Secrets of Neo Arcadia
by Aria6
Summary: Someone has a secret, something that could change everything... but what is it? Harpuia is trying to find out. Please Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

Harpuia frowned at the report in front of him. Not only was it unwelcome, it simply made no _sense_. Leviathan was sitting across from him, in his office, looking both downcast and defensive. She knew Harpuia was not about to go gentle on her.

"Well?" He raised his gaze, spearing her neatly with a look that everyone in Headquarters dreaded. "You were completely unaware of his instability?"

"Yes," Leviathan said, tapping her fingers nervously against the arm of her chair. "Harp, who could have foreseen _that_ It was just nuts!" Harpuia privately admitted that she had a point. Nothing in the brief dossier seemed to indicate homicidal tendencies. Still…

"A commander should know as much as he can about his troops. Especially someone brought in to act as a Lieutenant." The soldier in question, Leo, had already achieved a fairly high rank in the local police forces assigned to the Reploid parts of a small town. In Neo Arcadia, police forces were separated according to parts of town… Reploids enforced the law in the Reploid part of town, while humans handled the human areas. It generally worked fairly well, and Harpuia's forces recruited from those organizations heavily. Many police Reploids had seen combat against the Rebellion already. "Does anyone know why he did it?"

"No. That's the weirdest part," Leviathan looked acutely unhappy. "He didn't even _know_ the woman, as far as we can see. He worked halfway across the country until we recruited him, and he certainly never met her when he was working for us."

"And yet, it was a classic murder/suicide." Harpuia said with some sarcasm, and Leviathan nodded. That was what the human police investigators had called it, and everyone in Headquarters had been asked some very pointed questions about Leo's history. Harpuia had been quite ignorant of the realities of such crimes, but by now he knew that there almost had to be some kind of personal connection between Leo and the dead human woman. Even if it was only that she resembled someone from his past. "Have you gotten any word from his past employers?"

"Yes, and they seem to be baffled. I faxed them a picture of the dead woman, and they say they'll look into it. There's not a lot else I can do, Sage, and keep up with my other duties." Harpuia glowered at her for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. He knew that was true, however little he might like it.

"This is going to do wonders for our image with the humans," he observed, and Leviathan frowned.

"That's the weirdest thing. The press isn't paying any attention," she said, and Harpuia frowned slightly.

"Explain."

"Well, one of our soldiers, fairly high placed, slaughtering a woman then shooting himself? It ought to have made first page, but it hardly got a mention on page twelve. And the TV news didn't pick it up at all. Is that weird or what?"

"Strange, but fortunate for us." Harpuia said thoughtfully. "Maybe the Council squelched it." Leviathan made a face.

"The first time they've done us any favors, if they did. Can I get back to work, Harp? I've got a lot of things to do."

"Yes, go." Harpuia watched her leave, then turned his attention back to the report. He flipped through it again, as if it could tell him the secret pain that led Leo to murder and suicide. What could it be? Why would he have done something so… insane?

Harpuia closed his eyes, trying to call up a mental image of the new Lieutenant. Leo had had a lion motif. His hair had been a glorious mane of tawny gold, and his armor had matched it, the bulky armor of a warrior who counted more on toughness than speed. But all Harpuia could remember of him personally was interrupting a fight between Leo and Fefnir, and giving the new Lieutenant a dressing down for insolence towards a superior officer. He hadn't been as harsh as he could have been… Fefnir had a way of going hard on new recruits. What had that argument been about, anyway? He couldn't remember.

Harpuia frowned. He shouldn't be devoting this much attention to something so minor, even if it did have the potential to blacken their name severely among the humans. Especially since someone seemed determined to make sure it didn't blacken their name. Yet… that bothered him almost as severely as the incident itself. No one had ever gone to any trouble to help their image in the past. Why would someone start now? What was so special about Leo?

Coming to a decision, he stood up. Asking questions with a com link might be faster and easier, but it was never quite as good as meeting someone in person. He would go question the police force that had employed Leo himself.

Harpuia walked down to the HQ telepad. If he had been outside the HQ, he would have teleported himself to the Laguna telepad directly, but inside HQ, all teleports had to use the telepad. So he ran into Fefnir on the way there… almost literally, as he turned a corner at the same time as the red warrior.

"Woah! Sorry Sage." Fefnir's hand flashed out to grip his shoulder and steady him, surprisingly quick. Fefnir hadn't been fazed by the impact at all, Harpuia noticed with a faint touch of envy. But then, Fefnir did mass at least four times his weight. "Where're you going?"

"Out." Harpuia didn't feel like explaining his actions to anyone. Although… he tilted his head, looking at Fefnir curiously. "Tell me, Fefnir. What were you and Leo arguing about that time I interrupted you?" Fefnir's face darkened at the mention of the dead soldier.

"That asshole." Fefnir moved his shoulders in a way that any of his soldiers would have recognized… and feared. "He never should've been recruited for this."

"I'm sure we can all agree with that. But what were you arguing about?" Fefnir frowned, looking down as he considered Harpuia's quiet question.

"I dunno… just about his attitude. He wasn't putting as much effort into things as he should have been." Fefnir said, and Harpuia frowned. Leo hadn't been directly under Fefnir… he had been Leviathan's subordinate. If anyone had noticed slacking off, it should have been her.

"Wouldn't that have been Leviathan's duty to take care of?" He said neutrally, and Fefnir shifted uncomfortably.

"It wasn't Fairy's fault she didn't know… I… well, I knew the guy. A long time back." That surprised Harpuia, although he let no sign of it show on his face. Nothing in Leo's record had hinted at a prior acquaintance with Fefnir. "And I knew he wasn't doing what he could. He was better, that time I knew him."

"Hm." Harpuia considered that, then nodded. "You have no idea why he did this?" Fefnir shook his head, his dark skinned face grim. "I see. Well… thank you, Fefnir."

"No prob, Harp." Harpuia was deep in his own thoughts, almost oblivious to the world, when he reached the telepad. Why hadn't Fefnir mentioned his prior acquaintance with Leo? It wasn't like him to hold back information. Perhaps it had been limited to combat, and he hadn't thought it was pertinent… which was true, this appeared to be a personal matter. Harpuia shook himself back to reality as the controller of the telepad looked at him expectantly.

"Laguna, please," he requested politely. She nodded, and pressed the right key as he stood on the pad. The world dissolved and reformed in an instant, and he was at Laguna.

Laguna was a small town, on the very outer edges of the territory Neo Arcadia called its own. A beautiful little town, really, with houses made mostly out of red brick. Harpuia frowned slightly as a few people, humans and Reploids both, spotted him and hurried away. It was perhaps an understandable reaction… a little town like this didn't expect to see a Guardian… but he still didn't appreciate it.

"Perhaps I should have gone incognito," he said to himself, then shook his head. He would need his authority to get his questions answered quickly and efficiently. Harpuia immediately set out to find his destination, glancing around occasionally.

The more he looked, the more peaceful this town seemed. He was in the downtown street, and the shops were pretty and interesting. Glancing into one, Harpuia saw it was a bakery. A Reploid was manning the counter, cheerfully selling a human on some little cakes that looked good enough to make Harpuia slightly hungry. Huge trees were planted on islands in the road, branches outspread over the minor traffic that was to be seen on a Sunday morning. Harpuia tilted his head as he heard soft music, and he tracked it to a small outdoor café, where diners sat beneath red and white striped umbrellas as they sipped their Sunday tea. It was all wonderfully peaceful. In fact, it was almost the ideal of Neo Arcadian civilization, and made Harpuia feel a little… nostalgic? Neo Arcadia's capital wasn't half as charming as this small town.

Suddenly, Harpuia frowned as something occurred to him. How had Leo gotten enough experience in this tiny, peaceful town to warrant being brought in as a Lieutenant into his forces? The records he had looked over showed several citations for actions against Mavericks and even some Rebellion soldiers. The records had been fairly sketchy, only mentioning the incidents without any details. But as far as Harpuia could see, this town had no battle damage at all… could the incidents have happened somewhere else? But that made little sense.

Things began to make even less sense when he reached the street that the police station was supposed to be on. Harpuia stared at the pretty little house in front of him, then checked the address he had written down. This… was the place. Unless there were two streets with similar names, and someone had made a typo? A little girl playing in the yard gave him a curious look. Harpuia looked around, but there was no one else on the street.

"Child, could you please come here?" Harpuia asked politely, staying safely outside the fenced in property. The child came to him, curious and far more trusting than a city child would have been. "Thank you… I'm looking for the police station, but somehow, I was given your address by mistake. Could you tell me where it is?" The child nodded with a smile, and pointed down the road with a rather grubby finger.

"You just go down the road, turn right, then go up to the gas station and turn left. You can't miss it, they have a huge flag out front an' a memorial and everything."

"A memorial to what?" Harpuia wondered out loud, and the girl shrugged.

"Some old war." Harpuia winced at the callousness of the young, but thanked her anyway and walked away. The instructions were good, and soon he was at the police station, looking at the memorial. A historical plaque said that it had been found in the ruins of the town, when explorers from Neo Arcadia came and began the current town. Harpuia ran his eyes down the names, wondering who and what they had been… some sounded like Reploid names, but others sounded human. How had they died? And for what? No one even knew anymore. Briefly, he wondered if he himself would someday be so completely forgotten.

Pushing aside that uncomfortable thought, he entered the station.

"Hacky… sack. Hacky… sack." Harpuia stared at the female human police officer, who was whiling away her time by bouncing a little stripped ball from one foot to another and other tricks. It was an impressive display of dexterity and a poor one of professionalism. "Hacky… sack."

"Excuse me," he finally said, and she flipped the ball up, catching it with one hand and raising her eyes to look at him quizzically. He noticed she was quite pretty, with blond hair pulled into a ponytail and cornflower blue eyes. Her nametag had the name McIntyre on it. "I am General Harpuia. I would like to ask you some questions." That made her eyes widen.

"Wow! That's… wow, you are? You do? Hold on." She stuck her head into the back before he could say anything else. "Bebe, guess who's here to ask us questions?"

"God," said a deep, melodious baritone.

"No, better! General Harpuia!" There was a brief pause.

"I told you not to touch the pot we took from those kids."

"Bebe, I'm serious!" Harpuia frowned as he listened to the bizarre little conversation. Why were they so shocked? Leviathan had been speaking to an Officer Brenshaw for days about the situation. Surely they would have expected a visit from someone, if not Sage Harpuia himself.

"Are you out of your-" A very large Reploid, his armor painted in the manner of a police uniform, stepped out into the room, and stared at him, taken aback. "Uhh…" Harpuia smiled faintly at his obvious disbelief, then frowned slightly again. Why were a human and Reploid working in the same building? There were usually separate police stations, unless… unless a town was _very_ small and _very_ quiet. The Reploid blinked, then swallowed. "My apologies, Lord Harpuia. How may we help you?"

"I came to ask some questions about a former officer from your town named Leo." Harpuia fished a picture out of his vest, and offered it to him. The officer took it, regarding it with an air of puzzlement.

"I've never met him before in my life. When was he supposed to have worked here?" Bebe said dubiously, handing the picture to his partner. She regarded it alertly.

"For three years, until six months ago when he was recruited into my forces." Harpuia watched as a small frown developed on Officer McIntyre's face. "Do you know him?"

"Not… really, but it seems like I should," she said slowly. "Not from here, though. From someplace else." She thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I can't remember. But I think it was a long time ago."

"How long is long, Pam? Are we talking last month, last year, or when you were five?" Bebe asked pointedly. "Try to do a bit better, will you?"

"Stop being an ass, Bebe." She gave the picture a slit eyed stare, and suddenly blinked. "Oh… I'm stupid! He looks like my old boyfriend in high school." Harpuia stared at her.

"You dated a Reploid?" He couldn't help but sound appalled. Interspecies dating and sexual relations sometimes happened, but… it wasn't the sort of thing a good girl did. She grinned at him, passing back the photo.

"No, worse, I dated Leo Morn. Weird resemblance, but he died last year in a car crash," she sniffed disdainfully. "Favor to the world, if you ask me. The man was a brute."

"I… see." Harpuia tucked away the photo, more confused than ever… and deeply suspicious, although not of the two officers. "Well, thank you for your time."

"Wait a sec!" Harpuia paused as Officer McIntyre rooted through the papers on her desk. "Can I have an autograph? The rest of the crew will never believe I met you otherwise. Nothing _ever_ happens around here." Harpuia smiled faintly as he accepted the pen, and scribbled his name. It was actually quite rare, someone asking for his autograph. Most humans seemed to regard him and his forces as necessary evils, not… celebrities. But then, he rarely dealt with humans at all, and then mostly in the capital, not a tiny provincial town.

"Nothing happens? Didn't the chip truck explode last week?" Bebe protested mildly, and McIntyre shook her head as she took back the pad.

"I meant interesting _crimes,_ Bebe. There was nothing criminal about that, just some moron forgot to turn off the burner. Thank you so much, sir." She gave Harpuia a dazzling smile.

"You're welcome," he replied politely, and left the station. Without any answers… but several more questions.

* * *

Over the next few days, Harpuia himself couldn't spare the time to look into the discrepancies. And he decided not to ask Leviathan to do it. Someone had obviously arranged a false background for Leo quite carefully, and the way it had been done indicated the work of someone deeply within Neo Arcadia. Perhaps a highly placed spy for the Resistance, hidden within the human government, someone who might take alarm if the ordinary investigation stopped abruptly. So Leviathan would continue her own inquiries, with no suspicions, while Harpuia set someone else to a more covert investigation.

He looked up from the tedious, routine paperwork as that person entered his office.

"Padrick, reporting for duty Lord Harpuia." The soldier in front of him gave him a crisp salute. Harpuia regarded him thoughtfully for a moment.

For a Reploid, Padrick was an oddly human name, but he had clearly been built to be as human as possible. His armor was a dull, dun color, of no particular interest and, to the casual observer, less value. He was very slight, no taller than Leviathan but his body gave the impression of speed and wiry strength. His light brown skin matched the color of the majority of Neo Arcadia's population, as did his dark brown eyes. His face was youthful and handsome, like most Reploids, and under his helmet Harpuia knew his hair was a rather peculiar mix of dark brown and grey. What humans called salt and pepper, but that was something that usually happened naturally to the old. It was a strange thing to build into a Reploid.

Padrick's ordinariness was his greatest asset, in and out of combat. Enemy soldiers constantly underestimated the small, dun Reploid to their very short regret. So did allies… often to their more lasting regret. He was intimately familiar with scouting and intelligence gathering, and would be a perfect weapon for this kind of situation.

"I want you to investigate something for me, quietly. I want no hint of this to go beyond the two of us." Harpuia instructed him, and was pleased to see a hint of interest in Padrick's dark eyes. "Here is the situation." He quickly brought Padrick up to speed on the situation with Leo, what the soldier had done and what Harpuia had discovered, or rather not discovered, about his past. By the end of it, Padrick was looking quite thoughtful.

"You suspect a spy in important places," he stated, and Harpuia nodded. "If this is the case… you realize Leo might not be the only one planted on us?"

"I do," Harpuia said grimly. It had been his first thought. "Try to find any others who have been planted. Look for addresses and contact numbers that don't match the official records, or places that do not exist." Padrick nodded. "You are relieved of all other duties for the foreseeable future." At that, Padrick frowned.

"Lord Harpuia, if you wish to raise no suspicions, it might be best to have me relieved as a disciplinary measure," he said mildly, and Harpuia cocked his head to one side. "If you could arrange to be in… mmm… break room 3 at 10AM tomorrow, I can arrange a violent quarrel between myself and Zhasta. If you suspend us both, it will strike no one as suspicious, and I could use her assistance." Harpuia smiled slowly in appreciation of his clever little ruse.

"Very well. I'll be there." Harpuia pushed over the folder of all the information he had gathered on Leo, which Padrick accepted with a nod. "Dismissed."

He was certain the clever, dangerous young Reploid would soon have what he needed.

* * *

It was almost a week before Padrick finished his work, but when he did, the result was a humdinger.

"You're certain of this?" Harpuia demanded, staring numbly at the list of names in his hands. It was a long list, and it was headed by… "Fefnir?"

"I'm afraid I am," Padrick said, expression firm with conviction. "The manufacturing facility where he was supposedly created doesn't exist. It never existed." Harpuia shook his head, more in disbelief than denial. But if that was true…

"This can't have been done by the Rebellion. If they had this many agents in our ranks, we would already be dead," he said, examining the list again. "And these are some of my best warriors." Most of the names came from those with high rank. Harpuia shuddered at the thought of what would happen if they all turned traitor… Neo Arcadia could be decimated in a day. Almost as bad, how could he remove and replace them? It would leave the command structure looking like Swiss cheese, and there was no way he could find enough people to promote to change that. Harpuia chewed his lower lip, trying to decide how to handle this.

"Thank you, Padrick." Harpuia finally said, looking up at the Reploid who had brought him the bad news. "That will be all, for now. Return to your regular duties and say nothing of this to anyone." Padrick nodded respectfully, and stood. Harpuia stared at the list long after he was gone.

This was evidence of a conspiracy that had been going on a long time, and almost had to have the sanction of someone high in the Council. But how had the manufacturing facilities for so many Reploids been secured? How had they gained the energy? And why? What was being hidden, and what purpose did these Reploids with fake pasts serve?

"Fefnir…" Harpuia closed his eyes in pain. That part hurt the worst, that his fellow Guardian had kept such a secret from him and Leviathan for all his life. He took a deep breath, and organized his thoughts, pushing the pain away. How would he go about finding the truth of the secret? It would be better if he could do it without alerting Fefnir and the others on the list, given the potential danger they posed.

To do that, he would need some help… it was time to bring Leviathan into his confidence. He only hoped she would be able to act normally around Fefnir, once she knew…


	2. Chapter 2

Elsewhere, Fefnir was enjoying a quiet night with a female companion. A tall, buxom female by the name of Hook, she was wearing a tasteful teddy of navy blue silk that accented her lush curves and hard muscles. Very fine, dark brown hair had been cropped close to her scalp, then spiked into a cute modern hairdo. Like Fefnir, her cheeks were tattooed, but with dark blue bolts that matched the main color of her armor.

"They're onto us," she stated, and twitched in slight annoyance as Fefnir nuzzled her throat.

"Oh, they can't be," Fefnir murmured softly into her ear. "And even if they are, so what? It's not illegal." Hook started to pull away, then relented as his grip on her waist tightened.

"If they find out the truth, it'll fuck everything up. Harpuia'll be an asshole about it, you know he will." Fefnir frowned, and kneaded her skin, making her sigh.

"Don't diss our fearless leader, Hook. Always show respect." Hook sighed, rolling her eyes. That response was so typically… Fefnir. Always the loyal master sergeant, although technically, that was no longer his rank.

"This is private, not public, and I didn't curse his name or say he molests small farm animals. I just said he'll screw us over, and he will. Or are you telling me I'm wrong?" she asked, and Fefnir winced.

"Well… you could be right. But it won't just be up to him," Fefnir said consolingly. "And that's even if he finds out the truth, and I don't see how he could."

"No, just put us under a permanent cloud of suspicion… ah. Mmm. That's nice." Hook wiggled a bit in pleasure as Fefnir's hand started wandering.

"Don't worry about it," he advised her with a grin, as he continued to explore her well built, appealing body. "S'not like we can do anything, so just go with the flow. It'll all turn out in the end."

"Famous last words…" But Hook didn't protest further, turning her head to meet his lips for a deep, passionate kiss.

There really was very little they could do about it.

* * *

"I can't believe you hid this from me," Leviathan fumed. "I put so much effort into talking to those people! Wasted! We don't even know who they were!" Harpuia pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. He hated dealing with Leviathan when she was on the edge of a temper tantrum.

"I already explained this, Fairy. I needed you to cover for Padrick's activities. And," he overrode her next protest. "I've heard enough. What have you found out?"

"Bleh." Leviathan scowled. Harpuia had explained the situation to her, and asked her to look for any common physical threads in the soldiers Padrick had identified, over a secure communication channel precisely so he could avoid this confrontation. Unfortunately, time didn't simmer Leviathan down much, unlike Fefnir. "Oh, alright, but you OWE me Sage. I've found a few oddities they all have in common, from physical scans."

"What are they?" Harpuia asked, and Leviathan flipped on a schematic of Fefnir.

"See how much memory is being used on memory files? It's way more than a pretty young Reploid should have used up. They're all like that, although Fefnir's about the worst. It's totally harmless, though, so we never really looked into it."

"Hmm. And what else?" Harpuia said neutrally, watching as Leviathan pointed to a second point in the schematic.

"This is his data ports. He's got more than one, and they run really, really high speed for a super efficient data transer. It's sort of unnecessary, but again, not harmful, so I never thought much of it. They all have that, too." Harpuia's eyes narrowed as he considered that. "And the only other thing that they sorta-maybe have in common is really well-developed neural nets. I mean, more developed than I would expect from a random sampling of young and old Reploids. Usually, that's a feature of older Reploids and deep philosophical thinkers."

"And Fefnir is neither," Harpuia said dryly. "You said there's too much information being used in memory files. Could the efficient data transfer have been to get it there? And could it be hidden instructions?" Leviathan frowned pensively at that question.

"Yes and no. The data transfer probably was used for it, but… memory files don't contain instructions. They're pretty passive, sort of read only. You remember things, but your memories can't tell you what to do. If that was it, the instructions would be in some other place, not data storage. And nothing else looks unusual at all." Leviathan could speak with assurance on that… she had helped fix Fefnir up so often, she was quite familiar with every aspect of his schematic. "Except for the well-developed neural nets, and I'm guessing the extra memory usage somehow caused that."

"So essentially, this tells us nothing." Harpuia summed up their findings, and Leviathan shrugged.

"Why are you making this so hard, Sage? Why not just pin Fefnir to the wall and question him until he spills his guts? He would, to you, if you push hard enough. You're his idol." She studied Harpuia's grim face for a moment. "Harp, you're letting this get to you. You don't really think Fefnir's a cold-blooded traitor, do you? And all these other people? Muffy works under you, and she's one of the best flyers you have. Sylph is one of mine, and she's a good team leader. All of these people are good, in fact, and they seem pretty darn loyal. Do you really think it's just an act?"

"…I don't know anymore." Harpuia said quietly. "They've been keeping a secret from me, something that must be Earth shattering. I just don't know anymore."

"So… ask." Harpuia considered that, and finally shook his head.

"No… I want to find out more first. Right now, I don't even know what questions to ask." Harpuia said. He still had no idea what they were hiding… what secret there was about their origins… and he desperately wanted more information before he confronted Fefnir on it.

"Are you going to put Padrick on it?" Leviathan's tone was neutral, and Harpuia smiled wryly. He knew she didn't like him much. Leviathan had been promoted to Guardian from the ranks, and one of her direct competitors for the position had been Padrick. He'd accepted his failure with something approaching grace, but Leviathan still harbored a grudge over some of the tactics he'd used in his attempt to beat her out. To alleviate any tension, Padrick had been transferred to Harpuia's command after Leviathan's promotion.

"Yes. I'm thinking of making it his trial, to see if he's fit to replace Phantom." Padrick's fighting ability was very close to Guardian level already, and with a few upgrades, he would be fit for it. And this kind of sneaky investigation was exactly the sort of thing Phantom would have excelled at. Leviathan's eyes widened, then narrowed as her nostrils flared in an expression of suppressed anger and disgust.

"Oh, are you…" her voice was very soft, and Harpuia gave her a hard stare.

"Leviathan, the trouble you had with him was years ago, and you won. Don't you think you've nursed this grudge long enough? Much longer than he has," Harpuia said, annoyed. The main problem with promoting Padrick and the reason he hadn't done it already was the likelihood that he and Leviathan simply wouldn't be able to work together. He doubted Padrick held much of a grudge, but Leviathan would surely prod him into reacting. Leviathan turned away, crossing her arms in a way that Harpuia could only think of as a pout.

"He's a damned backstabber. Oh sure," she waved, cutting off Harpuia as he opened his mouth to object. "He's dandy to have for a subordinate or a superior. But if you're his peer and you have something he wants, you better look out for a boot in the nuts."

"That's a nice way to put it," Harpuia said dryly. "But I don't think that would be an issue for him as a Guardian. Besides, you've competed with Fefnir often enough. What's the difference?"

"The difference is, Fefnir wouldn't cut my throat while I'm sleeping. Padrick would, if he thought it would get him ahead." Harpuia considered that, then shook his head. He thought she was wrong… not about Padrick, precisely, but about the difference between him and Fefnir. Fefnir could be just as competitive, but he was cheerfully straightforward in his tactics, while Padrick preferred to strike surreptitiously. Fefnir's style was easier to forgive afterwards, because it felt less underhanded, but it was only a difference in style. The motive and goal was the same. And besides…

"I assume you mean that metaphorically," he said dryly, and Leviathan nodded reluctantly. Padrick was devoted to Neo Arcadia, and would never actually assassinate another soldier. "And if you are… that pretty much describes Phantom. He never attacked directly when a backstab would do. Until Zero…" Harpuia closed his eyes in remembered pain. Phantom had chosen to attack directly that once, for good reasons, but… now he was gone. If he had been able to use his chosen tactics, maybe he would still be here. Leviathan stiffened for a moment, then her shoulders sagged.

"Oh… alright, Sage, promote him if you want. I'll do my best to work with him… but I don't have to like him." She said sullenly, and Harpuia breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"I'm not asking you to. Cooperation is enough." That was really all he needed between the Guardians. They usually fought separately, in any case. Leviathan nodded reluctantly.

"Well, Padrick should find out what you want to know. He's a natural snoop," she said sourly. "But keep me in the loop this time, will you Sage?"

"Of course, Fairy."

* * *

North of Neo Arcadia, the day dawned cool and crisp. The landscape was lush forest, and someday, when the power grid had stabilized and population was going up, it would be colonized. For now, it offered many hiding places for Maverick Reploids and Rebellion sympathizers. There were no actual Rebellion bases or emplacements here… it was much too far away from their prime base, which was far to the South. But it still called for the occasional patrol, to look for any signs of Maverick nests forming. Runaway Reploids often traveled this way, returning to raid for the supplies they needed to survive in the brush. So this dawn, the peace was broken with the soft sound of hoverjets as an airborne patroller cruised over the forest.

"Teeny tiny meenie miny…" Muffy sailed blissfully through the air, riding what, for most people, would have been an illegal high. For Muffy, it was her natural state of being. Mind completely blank, her wide green eyes scanned the ground in practiced movements. She would register anything out of the ordinary and act on it long before her mind began to function.

"Patrol. High, low? Low." Muffy's habit of talking to herself severely annoyed many of her teammates in the aerial group, but she could sooner stop breathing. "Low… like the soles of my shoes… like the belly of a snake…" She dropped height to explore a twisting river, eyes roving around alertly. The surface of the river was so still that if she stopped and hovered over it, Muffy could see her own reflection.

Muffy was not unaware of the fact that she was quite attractive, but she was indifferent to it. Her face looked slightly gaunt, as though she hadn't been eating regularly, and her eyes were extremely large, giving her the look of a startled fawn. Along with her dreamy expression, it was a look many men found quite fascinating. Her hair was light purple, long and very fine, flowing around her shoulders like a pile of spider silk. Her armor was very light, and done in black and silver, with a helmet that fit snugly to her head except for the small antennae that extended from the left side. It had no real purpose, except allowing her to listen to the radio at all times. Which she often did, music being her second passion in life.

Her first passion was flight. Music made the times she was on the ground tolerable, but nothing pleased her more than to be flying. Flying was everything to her.

"Kiss me, hold me, squeeze me, love me, give me your soul… to eat… tastes like chicken…" Muffy's head snapped around as something disturbed the brush, but her mind briefly roused and ID'd it as a bird and no threat. She went back to her scanning. "I am… a rhythm nation… a ration tin…"

Suddenly, something attracted her attention. A glitter, perhaps, on steel. Instinctive evasive patterns sent her swirling through the sky in an insane corkscrew, and there was a startled cry from below. Then alarms screamed as a missile targeted her, and she blazed away in an attempt to outrun and outjinx it.

"I am under fire, repeat, under fire." Muffy's voice was cold as the arctic as she transmitted the co-ordinates. "Heat seeking missiles, repeat, heat seeking. Have caution." Heat seeking missiles were something most Mavericks would not have. But Rebellion soldiers often did. "Attempting to evade."

_Hang on Muffy, reinforcements are on the way!_ Muffy ignored the voice, concentrating on her own survival. Reinforcements would be of limited help if the missile blew her out of the sky. And it seemed doggedly determined to run her down.

"Oh, it's a good one it is. Class A, class A… ah!" There was a clearing ahead of her. Well, not precisely a clearing… more a place where the trees weren't growing as thickly.

One common, but slightly dangerous method of shaking off a very good heat-seeking missile was to duck close to the ground. Confused by the signals from the ground, the missile would lose lock and expend itself harmlessly. Then, a highly skilled flyer would pull up and return to the battle.

Muffy's task was complicated by all the trees, which she couldn't punch through without taking significant, even fatal damage. But here, they were growing less thickly, and she at least had a chance. She angled down sharply, aiming with pinpoint accuracy for a break in the tree cover.

She almost made it. In fact, she did make it, but the break was just a tiny bit too small for even her thin form. There was a smashing sound of metal breaking, as her left arm and shoulder hit a branch. That staggered her, put her off balance, and she careened wildly into another tree. That tree shattered under the impact, and she found herself lodged in the trunk, quite a ways up from the ground and in tremendous pain.

However, she did succeed in her main task… confusing the missile into losing lock. It slashed through the trees to her left, impacting the ground with a tremendous explosion, but did nothing to her except add a few splinters to the general mess. Muffy winced as the thermal bloom sent a wave of heat rolling over her and started a few trees burning.

For a long time, she stayed limp, half in, half out of the broken tree trunk. Moving sent great spikes of pain through her body, and herjet boosterswere out of commission… if she did get free, she'd be falling. Not to mention that her mind was feeling very hazy, and she seemed to be dipping in and out of consciousness… and there was a tremendously annoying sound…

_Muffy__, answer me! Where are you? Are you alive? Muffy!_ She stirred with a sigh, and struggled to raise her right arm, finally activating her com unit manually.

"Mommy, it hurts…"

_Muffy__, thank goodness! Where are you?_ Muffy gave that question some concentrated thought before she answered.

"I am in a tree." She glanced down, seeing a large shaft of wood that had impaled her left arm. There were actually leaves sticking out of it. "I have splinters." There was a pause on the other end. Muffy was well known for her strange habit of talking to herself in weird, random sentences. But usually she was crisp and informative over the com. So it was likely she was badly injured, indeed.

_Okay. Muffy, activate your beacon so we can find you. Alright? Activate the beacon. _That was very simple procedure, unlikely to go offline unless a soldier was dead. Muffy blinked muzzily.

"Okey doke." Muffy issued the mental commands, and sighed as she began broadcasting. Soon enough, her friends would find her.

As it turned out, Harpuia was the first to find her. Surface to air, heat-seeking missiles were rare enough that he had led the reinforcements personally. None of the Mavericks… and they appeared to be simple Mavericks, not Rebellion soldiers… had stood a chance against a Guardian.

Harpuia regarded Muffy dispassionately as he hovered beside the tree, taking in her wounds. He couldn't help but remember that she was one of the ones he was worried about, one of the Reploids with a false past.

"Jesus loves me, this I know… for the bible tells me so…" Harpuia lifted an eyebrow at Muffy's choice of songs. It was peculiar for a Reploid… some churches felt they had souls, but it was not a widely accepted view. And even those churches that did admit them usually felt that Reploid souls had to be inferior to human ones, having been created by humans. Harpuia tended to agree with the second sentiment. "For we are weak and he is strong… and I can't tell right from wrong… or left…" Harpuia grimaced. He was quite sure that was not the right words.

"Muffy." He said firmly, attracting her attention. She turned her head, gazing up at him with limpid green eyes.

"Lord Harpuia." A relieved smile blossomed on her face. "Did you get them? Is everyone okay, sir?"

"One dead, from the missile launcher, and two injured, but that's all. We killed them all."

"Oh, good." Muffy looked away, towards the nearby fires that were still burning. "Did you bring any marshmallows, sir?" Harpuia blinked, then chuckled before he could stop himself. Muffy's odd turns of thought could be very amusing. She turned her head back to smile up at him, pleased to have penetrated his usual reserve.

"Sorry, Muffy, you won't have roasted marshmallows today." Harpuia began to remove the remnants of the trunk, and had to catch Muffy as she started to slide free. She groaned softly, shutting her eyes tightly as the pain from her shattered arm and damaged body increased.

"No… smores? That's so sad. Only good think about Girl Scouts is smores. Gotta have smores." Muffy mumbled as Harpuia flew towards the rest of the team, carrying her in his arms.

"Reploids don't go to Girl Scouts," he told her absently, scanning for the others.

"Sad thing, that. Gotta say the promise… to do unto others… before they do unto you…"

"Somehow, I don't think that's the promise." It sounded right for his unit, but not the Girl Scouts. "There they are. You'll be home soon, Muffy."

"Oh, good. I want some chicken noodle soup and a nice warm bed…"

* * *

Once Muffy was ensconced in the repair bay… without chicken soup, but with several technicians taking care of her repairs… Padrick, who was outwardly calm, but whose eyes were sparkling with excitement, immediately accosted Harpuia.

"Sir, can I speak to you for a moment about that assignment you gave me?" he asked respectfully, and Harpuia nodded.

"Of course." If Padrick had any news, he wanted to hear it. As soon as they were in his office, Padrick began to speak.

"I've found some very interesting things, Lord Harpuia." He passed over a small report. Harpuia looked over it carefully, and frowned. It was meeting transcripts from the human Council, from almost ten years ago. Such things were not open to the public, but weren't that hard to get a hold of, either. Especially a report that was ten years out of date. "If you look at the parts I've circled, you'll see a mention of something called the Translation Project. Unfortunately, it looks like the minutes were edited before I got to them… probably when they were originally typed."

"And this means…?" Harpuia prodded him. For all he could tell, the minutes had been edited to conceal some padding of the yearly budget. Padrick smiled.

"The date is the important part, sir. I checked the records carefully to find out exactly when the anomalous Reploid histories began, and it begins only a few months after these minutes were filed." Harpuia's eyes narrowed at that. "Even more interesting, sir, is the fact that Phantom was among them."

"It's been going on that long?" Harpuia asked, feeling slightly sick. He'd been kept in the dark for that long? Padrick nodded.

"And for that first period, almost seventy-five percent of all the Reploids being brought in had errors in their records. The numbers after that go down to something like twenty percent. Lord Harpuia, was there something odd going on just then? Something to do with Reploid production?" Harpuia opened his mouth to say no… then shut it as something occurred to him. He hadn't thought about it in so long, he'd almost forgotten…

"Yes," he said slowly. "There was. A rebel group, not the Rebellion, just a bizarre splinter, had blown up the main manufacturing center for combat Reploids. We still had plenty of X drones, but the supply of intelligent recruits was severely pinched. The civilian facilities tried to produce what we needed, but they were having problems, mostly on the skill set programming." Military recruits needed extensive, accurate programming on their skill sets, unless there was leisure time to train them. "The casualties were horrible." There had been no leisure time, then. He had been forced to take the new recruits into combat as if their skill set programming had been flawless, and the results had been tragic. "Then… it got better. I assumed the civilian facilities had corrected the problem." Padrick's information put a different light on things. Had they corrected the problem using a different method entirely, something no one wanted out in the public eye?

Oddly enough, that thought reassured him slightly. The Council at the time had been taking his casualty rates seriously… it had been a drain on resources, if nothing else… so it was quite likely whatever step they had taken had been intended to be benign. It still left him with a burning need to know what they had felt the need to hide, but at least he could begin feeling safe about his soldier's loyalties again.

"Ah, that explains it." Padrick murmured, eyes bright. "Sir, I worked in a manufacturing facility for some time before I was transferred. Correcting a faulty skill set can take as long as two years. At the minimum, it takes six months." Harpuia nodded. His problems with the new recruits had only lasted three months.

"What other information do you have?" He asked. Padrick frowned slightly at that question.

"Not a lot. I haven't been able to find any trace of where these Reploids may actually have been made, or what the secret is about their creation. Or the reason why Leo killed that woman." Padrick grimaced slightly. "It still seems insane. I did have a thought, though, sir… you said that these Reploids have overused memory space?" Harpuia nodded cautiously. "Could that have been the result of some strange way of bypassing pre-programmed skill sets? Maybe by… implanting memories from someone else?"

"That could be." Harpuia wasn't certain how it would work, but it was certainly possible. And it was supposed to be illegal… giving one Reploid memories from another tended to create mental instability. "Perhaps that is why Leo did what he did." Harpuia blinked, then focused on Padrick again. "Go look through the woman's history. Find out about anyone who might have had a motive to kill her, not just Leo." That would get him the names of any Reploids whose memories might have gone into Leo. Padrick nodded.

"Right away, Lord Harpuia." Once Padrick was gone, Harpuia thought for a moment, then decided to go visit Leviathan. She would know if it was possible to bypass skill sets with memories.

As it turned out, Leviathan had heard of it, but not as a technique for bypassing skill programming.

"I guess maybe you could do it that way," Leviathan said, highly dubious. "I wouldn't want to try it, though." Harpuia had spent the past few minutes catching her up on the information Padrick had found, and was now getting her input on the feasibility of his conclusions.

"Why not?" Harpuia asked, and Leviathan chewed her lip, thinking.

"From what I understand, when you give a Reploid a different Reploid's memories, it's really jarring. Especially for a newborn… I thought it was made illegal because of the potential for insanity."

"That could explain Leo." Harpuia pointed out, but Leviathan only frowned.

"But… just Leo? If that's what they've been doing, it should have been more. And Fefnir and Hook and a lot of the others are as stable as rocks." Leviathan shrugged. "I don't think that's all they've been doing, Sage. Maybe that's part of it, but if it is, they must have found some way to stabilize it. It's just too dangerous otherwise."

"Well, we'll see." Harpuia said with a thin smile. "At least we know it isn't enemy action." Leviathan nodded. For all the conflicts they had had with the Council, there was no way they would have been sabotaging Harpuia's efforts for almost ten years. "How is Muffy doing?"

"Oh, dandy. But she's demanding some chicken soup." Leviathan rolled her eyes as Harpuia chuckled. "What is with her? I swear, she must have read up on every human cliché in existence."

"That's Muffy," Harpuia said, a bit fondly. He rather liked the spacey flier, and she was one of his best aerial warriors. "Thanks for the help, Fairy."

"S'nothing, Sage. But you might want to put Fefnir out of his misery soon… he's getting all tense and picking fights with the newbies. I think he knows something is up." Harpuia winced slightly. Fefnir in a bad mood was a trial for everyone around him.

"Once I get this last information from Padrick, I'll consider it." He wanted to be absolutely certain he had the right questions before he went to Fefnir…


	3. An honorable enemy

Hook frowned at Fefnir, as he dried himself from the shower. Normally, she would have vastly enjoyed the view, but today was different.

Fefnir was in a very bad mood. Despite his attitude when she had spoken to him about the problem before, it was obviously preying on his mind more than he had let on. She had sparred with him today, and he had attacked her with what she could only think of as inspired nastiness. Hook didn't mind, exactly… she liked a good, vicious sparring session… but she knew almost no one else would have appreciated it.

"Fefnir," she walked up behind him, and reached up to rub his back, feeling the tension in his body. "Ease up. Getting all tense and beating people up won't make it better."

"It makes me feel better," Fefnir growled, then sighed. "I know, I know. I shouldn't take it out on them." Hook nodded, nuzzling the back of his neck in an affectionate gesture. "But… you were right, he's onto us. I don't know if he'll ever figure it all out, but Sage is getting enough that we'll probably have to level with him."

"Mmm, that will be fun. How should we do it? A group, to support each other, and remind him of how well placed we are?" Hook was quite sure Harpuia would at least try to get rid of them. Fefnir was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"I guess that's the best way," he sounded distinctly unenthusiastic, though. Hook rubbed his shoulders soothingly. "But what if he tells everyone? The Council will be pissed."

"To tell the truth, Fefnir, I think it might do some good if everyone knows. I'm not sure the Council was wise in hiding it, in some ways." Hook rested her chin on his shoulder. "And it's not like you can stop Lord Harpuia's mouth, love. He's the boss."

"Mmm… yeah. But how will it change things between us, Hook?" Fefnir shook his head. "I don't want things to change." Hook winced. She knew Fefnir definitely had a point there, and not just with Harpuia. The shockwave their secret would unleash could be devastating, on a personal level, for all of them.

"I don't know, Fefnir. But I do know one thing." She paused, and Fefnir turned his head to look at her quizzically with his fire red eyes. She returned his look with a hard stare for a moment… then grinned. "Your woman wants you." Fefnir blinked, startled, then chuckled.

"I want you too, Hook." He embraced her warmly, with more than physical lust. She was a rock in his life, immoveable and unchanging. And now, more than ever, he could count upon her support.

That was a great comfort to him.

* * *

The next day, Harpuia noticed that Fefnir was suddenly far more relaxed. He wondered if perhaps Fefnir had never suspected anything… was his tension because of something personal? Whatever it had been, the new recruits were grateful for the change, although Fefnir still took a fiendish delight in testing them.

Harpuia sighed to himself, almost wishing the Rebellion would stage an attack. Or Weil would. Something… this lull in activity was giving them time to rebuild their forces, but it was nerve wracking, especially when it came to Weil. Who knew what that lunatic was up to? Which was probably why the Rebellion was being so quiet, come to think of it…

So when the alarm came, it was a surprise… but not precisely unwelcome.

_Lord Harpuia, Town garrison 37, in New La Verda is under attack by unknown forces._

"Numbers? Weaponry?" Harpuia questioned as he began organizing a force to go out to help. Fefnir jogged over, and Harpuia turned to look at him. "Fefnir, get a team together. Leviathan, stay here and guard the base." Whatever was wrong, he doubted it would need the attention of all three Guardians, and it wouldn't be the first time someone had tried to sucker out their forces with a feint.

_Unknown numbers, unknown weaponry, but it doesn't look good. The last transmission said that the situation was critical and they were attempting to evacuate the town population over the river._ Harpuia frowned at that. The usual procedure was to hold off the enemies until reinforcements could come. All towns were built with some easily defensible structures that the humans could be herded into for safety. If they were going over the river, something had gone badly, badly wrong for the defenders. _Transmission from the soldiers attempting to evacuate._ A pause. _They have been ambushed._ Harpuia stiffened. That was precisely the reason why the soldiers were supposed to attempt to hold the town, not evacuate.

"We're moving out now." He would get there as soon as he could. Hopefully, it would be soon enough.

But hope had no power. And they were much, much too late.

"What happened here? What the _hell_ happened?" The raw rage in Fefnir's voice spoke for all of them.

The scene by the river was a massacre. The humans, escorted by only a small number of soldiers and police officers, apparently hadn't stood a chance against the force that had ambushed them. Harpuia stared for a moment at the carnage, sickened. He wasn't certain what weapons had been used, but it looked like it must have been something similar to his own blades. Or… perhaps not. The wounds were very ragged, almost as if they had been torn apart by something much blunter. Perhaps even by hand. Harpuia stared at a young child whose arms had been torn away… he could see the white, glistening joint through the blood.

The soldiers and police officers had fared no better. Except for the fact that they were Reploids, the wounds were almost identical. Harpuia raised his head, seeing several thin lines of smoke beyond the trees. He gestured to his unit, and they took to the air, flying towards the town in a practiced motion.

It was a complete disaster. The town was a gutted ruin, and the reason for the evacuation quickly became apparent… all the defensible buildings had been reduced to rubble, possibly by high explosive charges placed before the attack. But how? Security was supposed to be tight on such places.

"Scan for survivors." Harpuia ordered. Hopefully, there would be someone who could tell them what had happened here. He couldn't bring himself to think it was the Rebellion. Even at their worst, when Elpizo had been in charge, they had never attacked towns simply to massacre the inhabitants. And this little town had nothing, no strategic resources or manufacturing. The only reason it had any soldiers at all was the fact that it was near the Rebellion's territory, and runaway Reploids tended to pass through. Harpuia landed in the main town street to begin his own search, entirely unaware of the fact that someone was watching him and considering something.

_I shouldn't do it. Marianne would say I'm being a juvenile brat. But… it's my last chance, he probably won't kill me, and I've always WANTED to._ The man standing on a nearby roof bit his lip, considering his dilemma and hefting a brick in one hand. _Oh, what the hell. It's not like it'll hurt him anyway, and I have to get his attention somehow._

Harpuia was more than a little startled when a brick hit him on the head, bouncing off his helmet but stinging painfully. He jerked around to look up to the place the missile had come from, the top of a nearby building… and blinked when he saw a Reploid standing there, waving at him. His eyes narrowed as he picked up the energy signature, which the other Reploid wasn't bothering to hide. He keyed his communicator as he flew up towards the survivor.

"Fefnir, I have a Rebellion soldier on the roof of the municipal building."

_What? The Rebellion did this?_ Fefnir's voice came over the communicator, and Harpuia shook his head.

"I doubt it, since his weapon of choice appears to be bricks. But get here as soon as you can." Harpuia landed, starting forward… then stopped with a frown as the soldier stepped back, gesturing for him to stay.

"Don't get too close!" The Rebellion soldier said sharply, and Harpuia's eyes narrowed as he looked the soldier over. He was in the typical, green uniform of the Rebellion, mostly covered with a dark brown cloak. He had a classically handsome face, with a square jaw, straight nose and high cheekbones. His hair was a dark auburn, mostly brown but with interesting flashes of red. It was fairly short, and right now, spiked messily with what looked like congealed blood and other fluids. His eyes were hidden with the visor many Rebellion soldiers seemed to favor.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Harpuia demanded, hoping to establish the basics. The Rebellion soldier gave him a sardonic smile.

"I'm Stray. And, to be honest, I was here to steal supplies and look for runaways who wanted to join the Resistance." Harpuia arched an eyebrow at that candid admission. "And I was trapped here when everything went straight to hell. Along with my friends." A brief look of pain crossed his face. "I was part of a group of three." Harpuia tactfully didn't ask what had happened to the other two. It didn't take much imagination to guess.

"Yeah? So what happened here?" Fefnir's voice came from the side of the building, as he finished pulling himself up onto the roof… much closer to the soldier than Harpuia. The soldier started, then shied away from him.

"Stay back!" His voice was very sharp, and Fefnir frowned, moving his shoulders ominously.

"Yeah? Why? If it wasn't the Rebellion that did this, we'll let you live… and if it was, we'll kill you slow." To Fefnir, the Rebellion soldier's reluctance to let them come near seemed guilty.

"We prefer to be called the Resistance," Stray said stiffly, and Fefnir snorted.

"Resistance, Rebellion, tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to. Did you do this?"

"Don't be ridiculous." The Rebellion… Resistance… soldier drew a deep breath, obviously calming himself. "I don't want you near me for your sake, not mine. Because of _this_." Harpuia's eyes went wide, and Fefnir gasped in surprise as Stray threw back his cloak, revealing his body.

Instead of the clean, polished metal that should have been visible, there were patches of… gel oozing along it. To Harpuia's disquiet, it seemed to be moving. Even more disturbing, it seemed to be eating away at the metal in places, sinking into the soldier's body. And perhaps worst of all was a slash the Resistance soldier had taken to his arm. Now that Harpuia could see it clearly, he could see what he had taken for a spray of green paint was actually a small forest of organic-looking growth. It rippled slowly, and Stray unconsciously rubbed his arm, crushing some of the stalks under his fingers and smearing his hand with more of the gel.

"By the seventh hell, what is that?" Fefnir said when he found his voice, stunned and horrified. Stray shrugged.

"I don't know. I just know that the… things that attacked this place looked like walking bushes. It seems to be infectious." Harpuia raised his eyes from the ruin of his enemies' body, to see a sardonic half-smile on his face. For a moment, a silent message passed between them, and Harpuia understood Stray very well indeed. _Yes, I know I'm dying. Don't bother me with consolations._

"What happened?" Harpuia asked softly, and Stray rubbed his chin, gathering his thoughts. Harpuia winced as he saw that that small movement had left another trail of gel on his skin.

"Well, the first thing we knew of it was when the explosions started. At first, everyone was confused, then some of your soldiers showed up and started trying to get everyone out. We weren't sure what to do… they would have noticed what we were for certain, if we'd gone with them… but then the _things_ showed up and started killing people. Well, we might be against Neo Arcadia, but we could hardly let humans get torn apart right in front of us, so we started fighting. One of your soldiers noticed us, and ordered us to help out with holding them off while they got people out to the river." Stray's face took on a look of pride. "We did, too. We held them off long enough for the rest to get a bunch of humans out. Did you find them? Are they alright?" There was a pause, as Stray glanced between Harpuia and Fefnir. His expression changed from pride to the stiff expression of a man expecting a blow, as he took in the looks on their faces.

"I'm sorry," Harpuia said as gently as he could. "They were ambushed before they could reach the river. There were no survivors." The Resistance soldier tensed, lowering his head.

"_Fuck._" The word was muffled, but full of agonized feeling. Stray took a deep, shuddering breath, then raised his head to look at them again. "Well, we… we tried." He raised a hand to rub his temple, then continued with the story. "We were getting pressed back, couldn't hold out, and I had an idea. Sweetpea and I were close to the bank, and I figured if we could just get in the vault, they might not be able to get to us before you guys showed up. Sweetpea didn't make it, but I did and… I was right. They tried, but gave up after a while, and I eventually came out, when I figured it was safe. But while I was in the vault, this… stuff started growing on me." He smiled sardonically again, this time with an edge of pain. "So I figured I'd give myself up to you as a guinea pig."

"A guinea pig? What do you mean?" Fefnir asked, surprised, and Stray shrugged.

"I can't get back to Ciel in less than a week. Considering how much this stuff has grown in a few hours, I'd never make it. But if you can examine me, watch the progress, maybe you can figure out what this is and come up with a cure." His eyes met Harpuia's again, and he read another silent message in the Resistance soldier's expression. _Not in time for me, but maybe in time for everyone else._ Harpuia was shaken, touched and almost awed by the strength of character this enemy was showing. Faced by such a gruesome death, he could only hope he would act the same. "But I would ask that you share any information you get with Ciel."

"You can count upon that," Harpuia said sincerely. "You are an honorable enemy." That was the highest compliment he could give, and the Rebellion soldier nodded, understanding. A sardonic smile crossed his face.

"Thank you. But I'm just wondering how you'll get me to your HQ without risking me contaminating everyone?" Harpuia considered that, frowning. It was a problem. He quickly activated his com, and began discussing the situation with Leviathan and the technical specialists. He was certain they could find a solution to the problem.

As it turned out, he was correct. Some cautious experiments with house pets showed that organic beings were immune to the effects of the stuff, and some brave human technicians and pilots were called in to disable Stray's blaster and key his teleporter so he could be brought into HQ. While Stray had a teleporter, he did not normally have access to Neo Arcadia's satellite network. The Resistance usually got around that by hacking into the network, either stealing some time or piggybacking their signals onto legitimate ones. But Stray's mission hadn't been important enough to warrant giving him that capability, so it was necessary for them to give him access themselves.

With access, Stray teleported directly to a contained area set aside for him. More human technicians set up remote monitoring equipment, some hooked directly to his systems while others scanned from a distance. And something else that surprised Harpuia, when he reached the observation area.

"Leviathan, why is he chained to the wall?" They were watching Stray through a monitor in the containment area, and Harpuia didn't like the neck cuff that was restraining the Resistance soldier. It had a long enough chain to reach halfway to the door, but no farther. Leviathan looked up from some of the readings.

"It's so we can safely go into the room, Sage. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy right now, for a Rebellion soldier, but who knows how long he'll stay that way?" Leviathan looked down at the readings, and shook her head. "It's already affecting his neural net."

"How so?" Harpuia glanced over her shoulder at the readings, but he couldn't understand them well at all. Leviathan chewed her lip.

"It's hard to say, exactly, but… his readings are getting stranger. I think it's infected his data banks, and it may be jumbling information." Harpuia considered that, looking into the monitor… and winced. Stray was sitting down, now, his face in his hands. His posture spoke eloquently of despair.

"Do you have any sealed suits, Leviathan? I want to go down and speak to him." He didn't want to leave an honorable enemy to suffer alone. Leviathan looked up at him anxiously.

"Sage, the suits we got are used in human research labs. They'll certainly keep you safe, as long as he doesn't touch you, but they'll rip pretty easily." If Harpuia got too close, and Stray turned violent, he would certainly be able to infect him. But Harpuia gave her a frown.

"Then you can keep an eye on his neural net, and warn me when the activity becomes dangerous." Leviathan lapsed into silence as Harpuia moved purposefully over to the racks of suits. She wasn't sure she would be able to pinpoint the spot where Stray would become dangerous, but she could see there was no point in trying to stop Harpuia. He would do this no matter what she said.

"Be careful, Sage."

"Of course, Fairy." Harpuia replied absently as he left the room. Soon, he was letting himself into the containment room. Stray looked up at the sound of the door opening, and managed a sardonic smile.

"Lord… Harpuia. Come to say goodbye?" His voice was as sardonic as his smile, and Harpuia shook his head slightly, as much as the suit would allow.

"I'm here to stay with you as long as I safely can." The sardonic smile disappeared as their gazes locked for a moment. Then Stray sighed, looking down.

"Thank you. I'm… having a few problems."

"Are you in pain?" Harpuia asked gently. "We have painkillers." There were some that worked well on Reploids. But Stray shook his head.

"Not pain, just a tingling sensation, and itching." Stray dug his fingers into the gash on his arm, crushing more of the strange plant life, and Harpuia frowned. He was willing to bet the itching was party meant to spread the growth of the stuff, by encouraging the host to smear themselves with it. Stray looked up at him, his expression haunted. "I wish it was pain. I was ready for that, for the worst, most agonizing pain imaginable… but not this. I… I'm having such trouble remembering." Harpuia hesitated, then stepped closer and knelt, taking one of the Resistance soldier's hands in his. "I'm losing myself… when you walked through that door, for a moment, I couldn't remember who you were. I… can hardly picture Ciel anymore, or Zero." Stray shook his head, and a bit of gel oozed down his neck. "I wonder if this is what it feels like for senile humans, when they have just enough of their mind left to know the rest is going, and there's nothing that can stop it…" Harpuia squeezed Stray's hand, ignoring the… squishiness of it. The impenetrable plastic of the suit would protect him from contamination.

"Stray, tell me about yourself," the Resistance soldier gave him a startled look. "It might help you remember." And even if it didn't, it would at least provide a distraction. Stray hesitated, then nodded.

"I was made six months ago by Ciel…" It was all Harpuia could do not to wince at that first sentence. Six months? He felt a stab of pity for the young soldier. That was a pathetically short life. "She thought I could help in the lab, but I wanted to do some covert work so Zandi gave me training…" Harpuia listened patiently as Stray rambled about what life was like, in the Resistance. Several times he faltered, but managed to continue with a bit of gentle encouragement. But it couldn't last, and as time went by, his sentences became more disjointed and hesitant. His expression gradually became blank, fixed, and his balance deteriorated. Harpuia gently eased him down onto his side, where he lay in a limp heap, still trying to speak. But the words were unintelligible… and finally, even that stopped.

_Sage, you better get away from him. Normal neural activity has ceased._ Harpuia nodded, gently putting down Stray's hand and moving back, beyond the range he could reach.

It took some time before there was any activity, but the body finally stirred. Harpuia was not particularly surprised to see it sit up smoothly, but it was still frightening. Particularly when it began to mindlessly tug on the chain, trying to reach him. There was no hint of expression on Stray's face… he was looking at an automaton, something under foreign control.

"Do you have enough data, Fairy?" He asked, reaching for one of his blades. He had brought it with him, outside the suit. The gel didn't cling to any surface but Reploids very long, before it shriveled, and the blade could be decontaminated when he left in any case.

_No, Harpuia, don't kill him. I know it would be nicer, but… we might need him for more samples._ Harpuia grimaced. He wanted to end this mockery, but… if Leviathan did need more samples, that would make a mockery of Stray's sacrifice.

"Very well." He turned away and left the room, leaving what was left of Stray behind…


	4. Chapter 4

"Suddenly puts our problems into perspective, doesn't it?" Hook said softly, gazing into the monitor. Fefnir grunted.

"Does it ever." What they were looking at was not a pretty sight. Over the past day, the growths on Stray's body had become so thick, it was hard to see his face anymore. Fefnir was unpleasantly reminded of how Stray had described the creatures… as looking like shrubs.

Unfortunately, as it had turned out, they did need him semi-alive. They had discovered a solution of electrolytes that could be used to keep the gel and weeds alive, but it only worked for a short time and they would not multiply outside of a Reploid body. Courageous human technicians, using very long poles, had to harvest more of the stuff regularly. It was ghastly, but they took comfort in the fact that Stray was registering no higher functions at all. He was long past caring about his condition.

"What have you learned, Leviathan?" Harpuia asked calmly enough, but his green eyes blazed with suppressed anger.

"It's not really my work… Joanna here did most of it." The civilian scientist she'd pointed out raised her head, smiling at them shyly. She was a middle-aged woman with brown/grey hair, and had degrees in both chemistry and biology, with a side specialty in Reploid biochemistry. "This stuff is really weird, Sage. It's quasi-organic and seems to be composed mostly of nanites, in its goo form. The bushy things are made of the goo, but they seem more organic."

"Skip the details, please." Harpuia knew his own limits… he was an excellent General, and he wouldn't understand the nuts and bolts of how the gel functioned. "Have you found any way to get rid of it?" Leviathan looked thoughtful.

"We're testing things out… but Harpuia, if we had Ciel here she could really help. Maybe you should try to get in touch with her? We've prepared the information for her." Harpuia blinked, then gave Leviathan a small smile, pleased she hadn't forgotten the bargain he had made with Stray.

"How? We haven't got channels to the Rebellion." Fefnir put in, and Harpuia considered the problem for a moment before turning to him and Hook.

"Can you catch a Resistance soldier, alive?" He was slightly doubtful. Fefnir didn't have much experience taking captives. Fefnir and Hook exchanged a glance, then Fefnir gave Harpuia a lopsided smile.

"Oh, I think we can handle it, Sage. We've done it more times than you think." That jolted Harpuia, and he looked at Hook, seeing an amused, ironic smile. Harpuia's eyes narrowed… he had almost forgotten their peculiar histories, but now it was brought back to him. _They know that I know about their extra memories…_ he shoved that thought away. It didn't matter… it was inconsequential, compared to what was happening now.

"Very well," Harpuia said, accepting Fefnir's assurance. "See to it." Fefnir nodded, and he and Hook departed.

It would take some work to find a Resistance soldier.

* * *

"Lord Harpuia?" Padrick interrupted his superior almost diffidently. He was aware that his investigation had been bumped to a much lower priority, and Harpuia was busy reinforcing various defenses and moving units to various small, vulnerable towns and villages. "Do you have a moment?"

"Not now." Harpuia said absently, examining a map carefully. "Meet me in my office at…" He mentally checked the time. "1800 hours." He still wanted to know what Padrick had found, but many problems were far more pressing.

"Yes, Lord Harpuia." Padrick gave him a crisp salute, and walked away. He had duties to see to, as well. Their break was over, and the HQ was a beehive of frenetic activity as they prepared for the worst.

At 1800, Padrick reported to Harpuia's office. Harpuia had only gotten there a few minutes before, and looked up as Padrick came in. The dun Reploid looked mildly concerned, and Harpuia felt a brief moment of amusement. Padrick was concerned about him?

"What have you found out?" Harpuia went straight to business, wanting to get this out of the way quickly.

"Not as much as I would have hoped," Padrick said. "I searched through the woman's past, and found many people who would want her dead, but most were human." A faint smile crossed his face. "It appears she was quite… assertive in her business and personal dealings. Particularly with her ex-husband, a human named Leo Morn, but he was killed a year ago in a car crash-" Harpuia tuned Padrick out, as his mind raced back to a meeting he had had not so very long ago, with a pair of police officers. Officer McIntyre, with her blond hair, blue eyes and bouncy voice…

_"No, worse, I dated Leo Morn. Weird resemblance, but he died last year in a car crash. Favor to the world, if you ask me. The man was a brute."_

"That's not possible," Harpuia said, face blank with disbelief. Padrick halted his report, surprised and realizing he'd lost the attention of his audience.

"Sir?"

"No one could give a Reploid memories from a _human…_" Padrick's eyes widened at that statement, and an even worse possibility occurred to Harpuia. The well-developed neural nets… adult humans were automatically older than most Reploids… if the entire mind could be translated… "It's just not _possible!_"

"I… wouldn't know, sir." Padrick said slowly. "But perhaps there is a way to find out." Harpuia blinked at him.

"How?" He was certain Leviathan wouldn't know of any technology that could do this. If it exised at all, the Council had obviously kept it tightly under wraps. But Padrick nodded.

"If what you think is true, and they've kept the facial features the same, there are ways to search by appearance through various databases. Perhaps I can match some of the soldiers with false pasts with their… human counterparts." Harpuia frowned, but remembered that Officer McIntyre had managed to ID the photo of Leo as looking like her ex-boyfriend, Leo Morn. If Padrick had the software to run the comparison, and the humans were on the database, perhaps he could do it.

"Very well. See to it." Padrick nodded, and slipped out. Harpuia stared away, quietly thinking.

If, somehow, Fefnir and the others had once been human… Harpuia felt almost sick as he considered it. Many, many of the Reploids with false pasts had died under his command. Had he been putting humans in danger all this time? Another doubt assaulted him. He'd always firmly believed that Reploids were inferior to humans, merely a copy of them. If humans could become Reploids, what did it say about that belief? What did it say about his own actions? Harpuia stood up, looking out his office window at the capital of Neo Arcadia. He balled one hand into a fist, against the window sill, and fought back the urge to slam it into the wall to express his confusion and frustration.

_You don't have time for this,_ he told himself firmly, getting a grip on his emotions. _You don't have time to worry about if they're human or not, and what it means. You have more important things to deal with._ Harpuia took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Once he was certain he was in control and his expression was its usual, icy calm, he left the office.

He wanted to see what progress Leviathan and Fefnir had made.

* * *

"Bunch of goddamn idiots." Fefnir growled, rubbing a burn on his arm and glowering at the five Resistance soldiers he and a handpicked team of soldiers had managed to capture. They were all firmly chained, with shackles meant to stop any use of busters and foil any attempt to teleport. Another three had escaped, from this hidden cell, but that didn't much matter. All that mattered was that they had managed the capture without killing anyone, and with only a few severe injuries on both sides. A medic he had brought along was tending to the soldiers now.

Neo Arcadia had known about the presence of this cell for some time, but had allowed it to go unmolested in an effort to isolate other cells. They had been meeting with some success, but Fefnir had decided, with Harpuia's approval, that getting the message to Ciel in a timely manner was worth shattering that operation. So they had moved on the cell this morning.

Harpuia would have been dismayed, if he had seen the members of Fefnir's team. He had swiped two of them from Leviathan, and another one from Harpuia's aerial unit. And every last one was part of the Translation Project. Fefnir had done that deliberately. On one occasion or another, every one of them had gone on missions with strict instructions to take prisoners. Most of Harpuia's forces never had.

"Oh, not really Fefnir. You do have SUCH a reputation as a badass." She grinned. "I'd be scared if you showed up on my doorstep, too." The Resistance soldiers had put up quite a fierce resistance to them.

"I'm that terrifying?" Fefnir said with perverse pride, and Hook laughed, running a hand up his back. Although the armor did get in the way. "Good, I've always wanted to be known as the red terror."

"Sorry, boss, that's still Zero." One of the members of his unit, a black skinned male named Gumbo put in with a sly grin. Fefnir mocked snarled at him.

"Who asked you?" Fefnir eyed the Resistance soldiers, who were looking pale, stiff and very afraid. "Oh, calm down. You're not going to be killed." Several faces registered disbelief, while a few others held some hope. The whole thing was a bit out of the ordinary… usually, the Guardians didn't bother with prisoners, except for the occasional one they took for data extraction… so a bit of cautious hope wasn't completely unreasonable. "Which one of you is in charge?" There was a moment of silence, before a slight female straightened her shoulders.

"I am," she said stoically, and Fefnir tilted his head, examining her. She was a little unusual… she had purple cat ears, and her armor was dark blue and yellow, giving the appearance of a cloth shirt just covering her chest, and a poofy skirt. She looked very much like a typical Reploid citizen of Neo Arcadia, if you ignored the ears. And even that wasn't too strange… some people liked giving their Reploids little animal flourishes. "I'm Verrucca."

"Ah? As in the Verrucca gnome?" Fefnir said, and had the pleasure of seeing the Rebellion cell leader blush bright red. The rest of her soldiers, and his for that matter, just looked confused. Hook sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Y-you read Terry Pratchett?" Fefnir grinned at the tone. She sounded like she would have been less surprised if he had revealed a taste for small farm animals.

"Great books, a bit dated but still great," he said amiably. Then his expression turned serious. "Look, here's the deal. Harpuia needs one of you, or maybe all of you, to take a message to Ciel. So you really don't have to worry about being killed. As soon as he gives you the message, we'll let you go." There was still disbelief on their faces, but slightly more hope. And Verrucca looked almost interested.

"What kind of message?" she questioned, then her expression hardened. "We won't betray Ciel." Fefnir waved that away.

"It's nothing like that. Believe me, you'll understand when Sage gives you the message." Fefnir smiled grimly. "So, everyone up." Hesitently, the Rebellion soldiers stood, the chains rattling. They could walk and still be slightly dangerous, even with the chains on, but Fefnir's soldiers kept a very close eye on them as they escorted them out.

It took only a short time to get the Resistance soldiers to their HQ, and less time for Harpuia to explain the basics of the situation. All it took was replaying scenes of the town… then the tape of Stray's deterioration and 'death.' All of the soldiers looked sick, when they saw that.

"Stray…" Verrucca pressed a hand against her stomach, looking about ready to be violently ill. "He… he stayed with us for a month. He was such a sweet kid…" Harpuia tilted his head to one side. He wouldn't have called Stray that, but then, he'd only known the Rebellion soldier in an extremely stressful circumstance.

"He died as well as he could, trying to save others," Harpuia said compassionately, and Verrucca nodded, swallowing hard. "But our task would be easier with Ciel's help, and I promised Stray we would be giving her the data on this… substance in any case. So, we need you to take this message for us." He didn't bother to add that if they refused, he would no longer have any use for them. Verrucca nodded again, meeting his eyes. Her golden eyes were filled with unshed tears, at the fate of someone she had known and considered a friend.

"We'll do it. Ciel will want to know about this," then she hesitated. "Do… do you think Weil is behind this?" Harpuia's lips tightened. He'd already been asking himself that question.

"We suspect so, although we cannot be sure." It was stretching credulity to think that someone else had engineered this atrocity at this particular time. On the other hand, the world was full of weird coincidences. Stranger things had no doubt happened, even if Harpuia couldn't think of any offhand. "Whatever it is, whoever made it, we need to put a stop to it immediately." Verrucca nodded in agreement, then raised her chin with a firm resolve.

"We'll take your message as soon as you're ready." Harpuia nodded, handing over the chips and motioning for Fefnir to remove their chains. Because next, they would have to teleport away. And for that…

"We'll give you access to our satellite system for this one teleport." He instructed Verrucca and the others. Verrucca looked studiously blank, but some of the others didn't control their expressions quite as well, and Harpuia could guess what they were thinking. They no doubt already had a back door into his satellite system, a back door Neo Arcadia's technicians hadn't found yet. But he didn't expect them to reveal it right in front of him, so he wasn't going to ask. There were more important things to deal with. "Tell Ciel and Zero that if they want to make a reply, to meet me at these coordinates, 0800 tomorrow morning." Harpuia gave them the coordinates, then smiled slightly. "Their time." The Resistance HQ was in another time zone than Neo Arcadia's capital, and the last thing they needed was a mix-up over something so picayune as the time difference. Verrucca nodded again, committing the co-ordinates to memory and putting the chips away into a pocket on her armor. Harpuia watched as they teleported away.

If all went well, he would be seeing Ciel very soon.

* * *

The next day, at precisely 0800 hours, Harpuia teleported to the spot he had told Ciel and Zero to meet him. Glancing around, he immediately saw them standing nearby. His entrance had obviously interrupted a quiet conversation.

Harpuia stood quietly, regarding them for a moment as they looked at him. Ciel's blond hair was just a trifle lighter than Zero's, and quite a bit shorter. In his opinion, they made a very cute pair, standing together in the early dawn light. Harpuia smiled to himself, imagining how Leviathan would react if he mentioned that to her. With him, it would no doubt lead to a severe pout. If Fefnir said it, there would be a spirited attempt to toss the red warrior into a garbage can.

"Harpuia," Zero said without expression. Ciel's smile was polite, but cool. "What do you want?" Harpuia's eyes narrowed, and his lips tightened at the suppressed hostility in the air. Even if they had a common enemy, relations between Neo Arcadia and the Resistance were cold at best.

"I'm certain you can guess." His eyes went to Ciel. "We can use all the help with analysis of the gel we can get."

"I've already look over the data you sent to us," Ciel said with a troubled expression. "Are you conducting a DNA analysis on it?" That kind of test took several days. Harpuia nodded.

"Leviathan has already started it." He took a deep breath. "Ciel, I want you and Zero and anyone else you feel the need for to join us in Neo Arcadia's laboratories. Forgive me, but we have better equipment than the Resistance, and this problem could become critical very quickly if a cure is not found." Zero's eyes flashed at the thought of Ciel in the middle of Neo Arcadia. "I give you my word of honor, no harm will come to you."

"You can speak for yourself, Harpuia. But can you speak for everyone else?" Ciel said softly, and Harpuia hid a grimace. That was a good point, but…

"Yes. The Council is very concerned." That was understating the case. Harpuia had already given them his report, and they were afraid. If their Reploids could be turned against them, the effect would be horrible. "Fefnir and Leviathan agree." And as long as they were willing to behave, no one beneath them would be willing to act against Zero and Ciel. Zero and Ciel exchanged a glance.

"Well, that's… interesting. But we'll have to discuss it with the rest of the Resistance." Ciel said, and Harpuia nodded. They couldn't just disappear without scaring the hell out of the Resistance, and probably leading to a mission set on rescuing them.

"Very well. Do you want to meet here tomorrow, at the same time?" He didn't think it would take very long for them to come to a decision. Ciel nodded, her eyes troubled.

"We will… and, Harpuia?" She said as Harpuia started to turn away, and he tilted his head in her direction. "Thank you… for being with Stray." Ciel had seen the entire tape, and the Guardian's attempt to comfort him. She had cared deeply for Stray… she had made him herself. Harpuia shook his head.

"It was nothing." He didn't think it was anything special, only the kindness he would give to any honorable enemy. He teleported away before Ciel could reply, back to HQ. He still had a great deal of work to do.

* * *

"Sage?" Harpuia looked up from a map, annoyed. There had been a second attack, less successful but just as violent as the first. They had driven off the monsters and kept the town mostly intact, but… several members of Fefnir's unit had been destroyed after the battle, because of the nanite disease. That fact forced him to patience, as he saw the one interrupting his plans was Fefnir, and he was looking tired and stressed. He had terminated his soldiers himself, as gently as possible, but it had been a horrible ordeal for all of them.

"Yes, Fefnir?" He asked as gently as he could. Fefnir raised a hand, rubbing his forehead and looking like he would rather not talk about whatever was on his mind, but had to do it anyway.

"Um… Sage, I hate to say this, but there's a resource we need to use." Harpuia felt confused, and frowned at Fefnir's reluctance. What could he be talking about? "The human battalions are immune to this crap. We really should start coordinating with them." Harpuia's face went stiff and cold.

"We will not put humans in danger," he snapped at Fefnir, all his suspicions about his origins coming back to his mind. Fefnir grinned darkly.

"A bit late for that, Sage. The Marines are already moving out." Fefnir traced a finger along the map. "The 4th is already being moved to San Fernando, and the air troops are… what?" Harpuia wasn't the only one giving him a strange look… so was Leviathan, who had just stepped into the room.

"How do you know all this?" Harpuia asked, staring at him. Fefnir shrugged, then grinned.

"Oh, just heard it here and there- OW! Fairy!" Fefnir rubbed the back of his neck, where Leviathan had smartly smacked him with her spear. "What the hell was that for?"

"Stop being an ass and answer the question," she told him briskly. "Trying to be mysterious just makes you look retarded." Fefnir grinned, and shook his head.

"You really know how to pump up a guy's ego… okay, okay!" He mock cringed away as she threatened him with her spear ago. "I have some contacts in the human forces. I figured they'd be moving, since we're sort of part of the problem, and I was right."

"Part of the problem?" Harpuia grumbled, but couldn't really disagree. From the human perspective, that was correct. "What do they think they're going to accomplish?" Fefnir shrugged.

"They know they're not as good as us, Harpuia, but they know they won't get co-opted by sludge, either. So they're going to do what they can." Much like the human police dealt with human criminals, the human military forces tended to deal with problems that involved humans… or sometimes, common Mavericks. They had always left Reploids up to Master X, and now Harpuia. But technically, Harpuia was not in charge of them and could not stop them if they chose to become involved. "And it'd be easier on all of us if we at least _try_ to take their positions into account, since we haven't got enough soldiers to protect all the towns anyway." Fefnir's voice was surprisingly tart, and Harpuia gave him a glare. Leviathan looked rather bemused.

"Wow, Fefnir, you're actually thinking! And I thought you only used your head for head butts." Fefnir grinned, and tickled her, making her squeal.

"Don't spread it around, Fairy, you'll ruin my reput-awk!" Leviathan grabbed him, dragging him down and trying to put him into a headlock. Harpuia sighed, turning away from the roughhousing and going to make a call to the commander of the armed forces. Fefnir did have a point, even if he hated it. His forces were spread unacceptably thin in areas, and the human forces could make that up.

But he didn't like it at all.

Padrick came in just as he finished getting the information on the positions the human military was taking, and arranging them to maximum advantage. The small Reploid was looking rather tired… he'd been pulling double duty, gathering information for Harpuia as he tended to his regular duties. He gave Harpuia a salute that was still very good, but lacked its former crisp edge.

"Sir, I have some interesting matches between deceased humans and the Reploids with false histories." Harpuia nodded sharply, taking the folder Padrick was offering and flipping it open.

The very first dossier struck him like a blow. Harpuia looked blankly at the picture of a grinning, dark skinned man with close cropped, spiked blond hair. His shirt was a dark green tank top, his pants were camouflage and he was wearing dog tags. And he was so achingly familiar, it was painful to see.

"Fefnir…" Harpuia shook his head slowly in disbelief. The man in the picture had hazel eyes, not blood red, but that was really the only difference between him and the Guardian, when Fefnir wasn't wearing his armor. Fefnir even favored camouflage, on his time off. "Mark Rockenzik," Harpuia read the name, then forced himself to look over the rest of the biography. It was an impressive record of a career soldier who had signed up at sixteen, and served until the age of thirty-three. At the time of his 'death', which was recorded as being from a brain aneurysm, he had been a Master Sergeant.

The second dossier in the pile had a picture of Muffy. It was impossible to mistake that thin, gaunt face and huge eyes, even in a human. The picture showed her in a flight suit, leaning against a custom painted fighter jet. A name was painted on the side of the jet… Stingray. Her dossier showed that she was as heavily decorated as Fefnir, but she had come up through the air force. And Muffy was actually her real name, although as a human, her last name had been Tamarisk. Muffy Tamarisk.

All the dossier's were like that… even Leo Morn's. They had all been highly decorated, competent members of the armed forces. A few had biographies that looked a bit edited, and Harpuia caught the scent of secret missions and covert ops. Phantom's human history was full of places that didn't quite make sense, but Harpuia wasn't particularly surprised.

"Thank you, Padrick." Harpuia took the picture of Fefnir, and slowly stood up. "That will be all. As soon as our current situation is over, I will begin training you to take Phantom's place." Padrick smiled, and snapped off another salute.

"Thank you, sir!" He understood why it couldn't happen now… there was no time for the technicians to upgrade him, Harpuia to train him and a unit to be organized for a new Guardian. When the soon to be Guardian left the room, Harpuia stared down at the photograph, thinking.

He had the information, and confirmation of all his suspicions.

Now what should he do with it?


	5. Chapter 5

"Stray." Ciel whispered as she looked at the monitors that still observed the containment area. It was just barely possible to tell who the Reploid had been, although that would end soon. Whatever the gel and shrub growths used to tell what was going on around them, it was not normal Reploid eyesight. One of Stray's eyes had cracked, letting a tendril of gel ooze down his face. It was a particularly horrific effect. A few tears slowly slid down Ciel's cheeks at the sight of the Reploid she had created, not very long ago.

"Ciel…" Zero put his arms around her, hugging her from behind. The brilliant scientist huddled in his arms, as if she was trying to get warm. No one blamed her for that reaction. The growths were truly horrific.

"He was so… so good, so kind, so brave." Ciel whispered softly. "He didn't deserve this."

"Yeah," Fefnir said with rough sympathy. "The kid had balls." Ciel looked up, eyes bright with anger… but then her expression softened as she realized Fefnir was sincere. For him, that was a great compliment.

"Yes, he did." Ciel took a deep breath, and pushed away from Zero, rubbing her cheeks and gathering herself. "Do you have the results on the DNA analysis yet?"

"Not yet, even thought I gave them hell," Leviathan said sourly. The analysis had top priority, and should have been in. "They say it's got a quad helix, but they want to double check everything." Ciel's eyes widened at that information.

Everything in Earth's evolutionary history had a double helix. No exceptions. There was nothing on Earth that used a quadruple helix, and nothing native ever would… so…

"Someone engineered it, or it's alien." Ciel voiced that last thought in a troubled tone of voice. "Or the lab has had a processing error." That would have to be an interesting error, though. Leviathan nodded.

"That's why they're rechecking. I doubt it's an error, though." Her tone was sour. "We should only be so lucky." She didn't like the thought of alien DNA anymore than Ciel did. It spoke of a problem that might even overshadow Weil, and that certainly took some doing. Ciel winced, but nodded.

"So what, this is invasion of the body snatchers? War of the Worlds?" Fefnir said disbelievingly. Leviathan scowled, and smacked his arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Shut up, it's not funny right now." Fefnir looked startled, but closed his mouth. He could see Leviathan was serious. "Ciel, I think we should start doing some shotgun tests to see what kills this stuff. Come on, and I'll introduce you to the rest of the team." Leviathan led Ciel to the rest of the scientists, who were all hard at work in analysis and tests. Zero watched silently, and Fefnir finally shrugged.

"Well, yeah… I should get back to my unit. See ya later."

"Call me if you have another attack," Zero requested, and Fefnir nodded. Zero would be as bored here as he was, but he couldn't leave Ciel alone… unless the bushes showed up again.

"Sure." He would be glad to have Zero by his side. If anyone was agile enough to destroy the things without becoming infected, it was the red terror. Fefnir grinned sourly to himself at the thought, as he walked out.

He still wasn't the red terror, and probably never would be. But… he could live with it. If he had to.

* * *

It was a little known fact, in Neo Arcadia as a whole, that every unit had a dedicated server devoted to their processing needs. Each of these networks was integrated with the other units', and the result was a swift and excellent data sharing device. This networking had many legitimate uses, and could be accessed remotely from many locations.

It also had several not-so-legitimate uses. In this area, Fefnir's unit, the Jin'en, made up the core of this use. However, it would have been grossly unfair to blame just them. In truth, Leviathan's unit, the Meikai, was far more responsible. With higher computer skills than Fefnir's hard-core warriors, they had concealed the extra load from those who would have looked askance upon their activities. Aided and abetted, of course, by their own unit leaders. Neither of whom felt any need to worry Harpuia over something so minor.

And even the Rekku army, Harpuia's unit, was involved. The games were just too popular to avoid spreading, and no one would have breathed a word of it to Harpuia… or, before him, Master X and Phantom. So, even as the armies practiced hard and readied themselves for a fight to the death… the game went on.

"Oh damn damn damn… across the sunny plains of Marduk…" Fefnir glowered at the screen, rapidly tapping a key to achieve a rapid fire effect, as he danced his character back, away from danger. It was not going particularly well. "Why did I think this was a good idea?"

_Because we need the Amulet._ A calm, cold voice sounded in his ear. He was wearing a headset that connected him to a small party net. They were the green team, one of ten that was trying to complete the quests of the game and stymie the others at the same time. Nothing was outlawed, including outright assassination, and a few of the teams had already been annihilated. Fefnir's was still going strong. _Hold still._

"Are you nuts? It's right on me!" The monster in question was known as a Damncroc. Thirty feet of ground hugging, well-swimming, outright mean, they had a mouth that was full of teeth and a fierce urge to use them. The constant, near-torrential rain of this region and the fact that they were in a swamp was not helping at all.

_Do it!_ Fefnir reluctantly obeyed… and the screen went wild with damage readings as a grenade exploded in the Damncroc's mouth. The head was blown apart, but his character absorbed a great deal of damage from stray fragments.

"Muffy, you nutcase! That fucking hurt!" Fefnir complained, evaluating his character's condition. He was a dark skinned male Reploid, with swirling red tattoos and barbaric red armor festooned with gold beads. Little blood splatters stained his face and armor… the graphics were quite realistic in portraying the injuries.

_I knew your armor is very effective against explosive damage. If that thing had caught you, you would have been crushed._ Muffy explained calmly, her avatar coming into view. She had chosen a form that had nothing to do with her physical body… she was a large, powerful woman, with chocolate brown skin and black hair in dreadlocks. She was wearing yellow goggles and bright blue lipstick, and armor that was extremely difficult to see in the swamp, browns and greens. Fefnir briefly wished he had gone for camouflage… but he had preferred proximity alarms. Like any advantage, camo costed extra.

_WOOT! Woot woot woot!_ Came a sudden excited voice. _The bridge is out, the bridge is out! Hahaha, Hook's cursing us!_ There were ways to "shout" at other players. _Hey, sir, does your penis really look like-_

"I'd rather not know what she's saying, Gumbo, thanks. I take it you got some of her team?" Fefnir asked with a grin. For Hook to bring out the best insults, she had to be really peeved.

_Yessir__ got two of them going across the bridge! Hahaha, we're coming back!_ Came the enthusiastic reply. Fefnir nodded, and started moving again, Muffy beside him. The other two remaining members of his team had the only hovercycle left. They would catch up soon. Fefnir ignored Muffy's abstracted monologue with ease… although he snickered to himself as she gunned down another Damncroc, and started to sing. _You are my sunshine… my only sunshine… you make me happy… when skies are grey…!_ With croc blood splattered across her armor, it was nicely psychotic.

_The Amulet!_ Muffy breathed reverently as they entered a clearing. The golden amulet they were seeking was on a pedestal, in the middle of the clearing. Fefnir started towards it… then abruptly stopped, alarm bells tolling in his mind.

"Muffy, stop." Fefnir ordered her sharply, and she halted, surprised. "Let's wait for Gumbo. He has the espionage skillset."

_You think this is a trap? We fought so hard to get here!_ Muffy protested, but stayed where she was. She respected Fefnir's instincts. He grinned, watching the screen.

"Yeah and look at how inviting it is. Remember the rules, Muff. 'If your mission is going too well, you're walking into an ambush.'"

_Ahh__, too true, too true. Across the plains of Marduk… under the sky so grey… we blast and slash, we fight and bleed… will we die this day?_ Fefnir arched an eyebrow at that impromptu poetry.

"That's actually pretty good, Muffy. Write it down and post it on the forum." Another well-kept secret was the forums they used to discuss the game and plan sessions. That poem would be good on the forums.

Before the hovercycle could arrive, though, the amulet and pedestal abruptly disappeared.

_AMBUSH!_ Muffy and Fefnir immediately opened fire as another team erupted from the brush. They had quite cleverly planned the ambush, but realizing their prey would come no closer, they had been forced to attack at a suboptimal position. But Fefnir and Muffy were outnumbered… until a hovercycle blazed up, with Gumbo driving and his partner, a young female named Shivani manning the laser cannon and firing into the enemy.

No one died, but everyone was injured before the other team broke off contact. Fefnir grinned as Shivani began using her skills to tend to them. She was the medic of the team, and still possessed several nano-packs that greatly enhanced the healing of their human and Reploid characters.

The game they were playing was called Eternal War. With literally hundreds of settings, it required immense memory to run, but the result was spectacular. There were several different settings, including Assault Run, Deathmatch, and several others, but the one they were currently using was Timed Quest. Each team was competing thought the same areas to gain certain items, each attempting to achieve the best time. Five settings had been randomly chosen, and the teams randomly distributed in them to fight it out. When they finished with one setting, they were randomly warped to another. Finding the items required good reflexes and cleverness, as well as a hearty dose of paranoia since with the proper gear, which every one of them had, they could pinpoint other teams. It took skill to hide, even for a moment, but they had that too. It made the game fun and perilous.

Right now, the setting they had landed in was Marduk, the swamp world from hell. It was inhabited by beings known as Scummies, extremely tall, bulky aliens with skins that seemed to be covered in mucus. The game ran some primitive AI programs, so they could be dealt with and bargained with. However, plenty of them were enemy drones, tribesmen who took any incursions by outsiders negatively. The environment of Marduk also tended to wreak havoc on their weapons and armor, causing certain pieces of equipment to fail in the damp humidity. Not to mention the trials and tribulations of attempting to move swiftly in a swamp. It simply couldn't be done, unless you were willing to slash everything with a beam saber, an action that attracted predators. The only setting that most of the players felt was worse was the Beirut setting. The bloodiest setting of the game, it was full of enemies with guns.

In Eternal War, interestingly enough, the players could play either human or Reploid characters. There were certain advantages to being human that offset the lower amount of damage they could take. They got to take a greater number of skills, reflecting the longer time they had been alive than their Reploid counterparts. That made them useful for the technical specialties. In their party, Gumbo and Shivani were both playing humans for that advantage. Gumbo to get the technical and espionage skillsets, while Shivani had the linguistic, electronic and medical skillsets that would heal both Reploids and humans. That was a pure necessity, when the team was limited to four people. If Fefnir had had his way, there would have been six of them to spread the skill load over, and prevent critical failures. If either Gumbo or Shivani bought the farm, they would all be in trouble.

There was a sharp knock on Fefnir's door, and he spoke without looking up from the game. "Who is it?" The other players would hear him, but would understand that his question wasn't for them.

"Harpuia. May I come in?" Fefnir winced.

"Sage alert. Good luck, guys." Fefnir muttered into his headset, and winced again at a chorus of aw's from his three teammates. He logged off anyway, aborting himself from the current mission. If he tried to come back, he would have to wait until they finished the Marduk setting to join them in the next one. And if they started on that one before he got back on, he would be out of the game… it was the final setting. On the plus side, Muffy might be able to cover his absence, since they were both heavy combat types. Fefnir pulled off the headset and shoved it into the desk drawer, standing up. "Come in."

Harpuia entered the room, and promptly came to a halt, eyes widening as he looked at Fefnir. He was out of his armor, wearing a very familiar green tank top and camouflage pants. It was jarring, especially given the reason Harpuia had come to see him. He had finally decided that the only thing to do was follow Leviathan's suggestion and confront Fefnir directly. He certainly had the right questions to ask now.

"Anything I can help you with, Sage?" Fefnir asked, tilting his head to one side, red eyes curious. He was off duty, and had put in a very long day of work, so it was unlikely this had to do with their responsibilities. All three Guardians worked basically the same shift, but being the ones in charge, they were constantly on call. It was possible Harpuia wanted to invite him to some kind of activity, but… that was fairly rare. Harpuia's tastes for his time off ran towards quiet reading and recreational cooking. An exceedingly weird hobby for a Guardian, but no one was at all tempted to make fun of it, since very nice cookies tended to grace the break room on a regular basis. Harpuia had tried to teach him and Leviathan once, out of sheer boredom, but it had degenerated into a fight with the flour. A ton of fun, but Fefnir didn't think Harpuia would be eager to repeat the experience. And the expression on Harpuia's face, as he looked at him was… strange. Fefnir wasn't sure why. He usually didn't wear his armor in his own quarters, and Sage knew that.

"Fefnir," Harpuia started, then took a deep breath. "Or should I call you Mark?" Fefnir's face went blank with shock.

"H-how did you…?" Fefnir winced, then squared his shoulders. "No, you shouldn't. I was the S. Maj., everyone called me Rockenzik. Only my baby cousin called me Mark."

"So you're not denying it?" Harpuia said coldly, but with an aching heart. He almost wished Fefnir would, despite all the evidence. He didn't want to believe it was true, and confront his own doubts. Fefnir shrugged, then gave him a lopsided grin.

"No. What would be the point? How did you figure that out, though? I'm curious." He had figured that Harpuia was close to finding out the truth about Leo, and the anomalies in their histories, but he hadn't thought the Guardian would be able to tie them to their actual pasts.

"Padrick used pictures of your faces and scanned through all the databases. Our networks can handle that kind of comparison, you know." Harpuia was a bit vague on the details of how Padrick had done it, but he knew that was the general gist.

"Clever bastard," Fefnir said in an admiring tone. He respected good sneakiness, even if it wasn't something he could do well, except on the tactical level. Then he looked at Harpuia very seriously, his red eyes meeting Harpuia's green. "So what are you going to do about it, Sage?"

"Do?" Harpuia chewed his lip for a moment, then sighed. "What am I supposed to do with you, right now? Damn it, Fefnir, I've been putting human lives in danger for years! And I find out about it at exactly a time I can't afford to do anything about it." It was maddening, but the last thing he could afford right now was to lose the services of a quarter of his forces. To his surprise, Fefnir's face suddenly hardened.

"Harpuia, we are not humans." His tone was cold, hard, and Harpuia blinked at him in surprise. This was unlike Fefnir. "We signed away our rights when we joined the Translation project. Our human bodies _died_ when we did this, and there's no going back for any of us, ever. In every way, for the rest of our lives, we are Reploids. Period. So don't you fucking dare start trying to protect us!" Harpuia stared at Fefnir, startled by the passion… almost rage in his voice. Fefnir met Harpuia's gaze, his eyes burning.

"Fefnir…" Harpuia started, then stopped and shook his head. "It's not just that. Haven't you thought about what this means?" Fefnir's expression turned puzzled, and Harpuia almost smiled. _Of course he hasn't, he's still Fefnir. Fighting Fefnir… he doesn't think about things like this._ But Harpuia tried to explain anyway. "I've done what I've done, enforcing Master X's decrees and retiring Mavericks, because I believed that we are inferior to humans. We're just… just copies of you, inferior copies. But if humans can become Reploids… Fefnir, what if I was wrong? How can we be inferior when you can _become_ us?" Harpuia closed his eyes, unable to articulate his worst fear. That he was nothing but a mass murderer, the tool of a genocidal maniac and an oppressive regime. Could the Rebellion have been right, all this time, to try and destroy Neo Arcadia? _No. No, we have worth, for all our flaws. Zero and Ciel may have been right, but Elpizo went too far._

Fefnir stared at Harpuia, feeling very uncomfortable. He shifted from one foot to the other, trying to think of what to say. "Sage… I don't know about that. I mean, you've seen my human record, right? I was a Sergeant Major in the Marines. I worked my way up from a grunt, and, well… we don't ask questions like that. 'Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die.'" Fefnir grinned as he quoted the old saying. Then he sobered. "But I do know one thing, Sage."

"What?" Harpuia asked dully, not hoping for any real help. But strangely, Fefnir did have something that was not soothing, but felt true.

"You can't do anything by looking behind and beating yourself up over the past. If you think you're wrong, accept it and move on." Fefnir rested a hand on Harpuia's shoulder, face serious. "But don't tear yourself up over it. It won't do any good."

"That's easy to say." Harpuia said, then winced at his own tone. He sounded almost… whiny, which definitely wasn't fitting for a Guardian. But Fefnir only shrugged.

"Everything in easy to say, but you just gotta do it, Sage." Fefnir paused, and frowned, trying to recall something. "I was never a religious man, but my mama told me, when I was a kid, that if you want forgiveness you've got to do two things… repent and repair. Just asking for forgiveness is crap, since it's nothing but words, but actions speak loudly."

"That's the whole point, Fefnir. I can't fix it, they're _dead._" All the Reploids he had helped retire briefly flashed through his mind. A look of pain crossed Fefnir's voice.

"Believe it or not, Sage, I know exactly what you mean by that." Harpuia shot him a disbelieving look, and Fefnir gave him that same, lopsided smile. "Friendly fire isn't, and we all have our moments. If all you can do is make sure it never happens again, that's all you can do." Harpuia was silent for a long moment, considering that. It was almost comforting.

"…Thank you, Fefnir." Harpuia finally said.

"You're welcome," Fefnir replied, then grinned. "Go bake something, it'll make you feel better." Harpuia frowned at him severely, but there was a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.

"Are you just wanting some chocolate chip cookies again?" Fefnir was notorious for stealing half of those from the break room every time Harpuia made them. The red Guardian grinned, not at all put out by the charge.

"Could be. Please?" He asked in a wheedling tone. Harpuia laughed softly, then smiled.

"I'll think about it." He left Fefnir's room, amazed to find that he felt better than he had in days…

* * *

Harpuia and Fefnir were unaware that as they spoke, someone else was contemplating plans involving the very same issues they were discussing.

Padrick smiled to himself. It was not a nice smile. In fact, it was a particularly nasty smile, the smile of a man who was considering a particularly evil plan and finding pleasure in the contemplation.

In truth, Padrick was not an evil person. As Leviathan had observed, he was a joy to have as a commander, sensitive and attentive to the needs of his troops. He regarded those in his charge with genuine care, and they responded well to him, giving him loyalty. He also led fearlessly, when the occasion arose. And he was extremely loyal to Neo Arcadia as a whole and Harpuia in particular. Padrick had a deep need to have an ultimate superior, and had no designs upon Harpuia's position. Instead, he gave the Guardian his devotion.

The same could not be said for Fefnir and Leviathan. Padrick was merciless in his competition with peers, far worse than Leviathan actually knew. She hadn't spotted all the strategies he had used against her… some had failed, and others had been too well hidden to be traced back to him. Phantom had known about his tendencies, and taken steps to let Padrick know what would happen to him if Phantom caught him at his games. Unfortunately, Harpuia hadn't realized what a double edged weapon he was holding, and hadn't taken the steps to ensure Fefnir and Leviathan's safety from Padrick's slippery, status-driven mind. The Guardian's were peers, but… he wanted to be first among them. And to do that, he would seize upon any weapon available.

Right now, there was nothing Padrick could use against Leviathan. But he had a weapon against Fefnir readily available. How would the public react, when they learned about the Translation project? That thought intrigued Padrick for its own sake, as well as the possible discredit to Fefnir's position. Padrick was an avid observer of human and Reploid nature, and he would enjoy watching the media firestorm that was sure to follow disclosure.

Of course, he couldn't simply take his files public. Harpuia would know who had leaked the information, and would dismiss him, if not execute him outright. But Padrick knew how to handle that. A careful word here and there, through intermediaries, and the media could be led to the proper information on their own. Phantom had taught him all the techniques with which to manipulate people, and the press was made up of people. It would be easy.

Padrick smiled again, then sighed regretfully. That was a project for the future. Right now, the safety of Neo Arcadia itself was at stake, and he would not jeopardize that.

But someday… someday soon… there would be no more secrets.


	6. Chapter 6

"Harpuia," Governor Eggleston smiled as the Guardian entered his office. Harpuia nodded graciously. "Please, have a seat." The Governor had sent a message requesting a meeting with Harpuia at the earliest possible convenience. Technically, they were equals, and it might have been more appropriate for him to come to the HQ instead, since he had requested the meeting. But Governor Eggleston was one of the sizeable minority of humans who reacted violently to teleportation, so it was far more efficient for Harpuia to come to him.

Harpuia wasn't inclined to make an issue of something so petty, in any case. He liked and approved of Eggleston. They were on what Fefnir laughingly called a last-name basis… too familiar to use titles, but not friendly enough for first names. Neo Arcadia had never been a democracy, but Eggleston had still managed to have a very long career in politics. Before his death, Master X had chosen the Council directly. They had served essentially on his whim, and he could dismiss them as he chose. Eggleston had been the Minister in charge of Criminal Law for some time, and Harpuia had seen him many times in meetings with X. He had been impressed with how the human could sometimes disagree so respectfully, but in a way that didn't give an inch. He had actually prevailed over Master X on some occasions, until they had finally clashed one time too many, and Eggleston had been dismissed. But after X's death, things had changed. Logically, Master X's successor should have been Harpuia. But no one was willing to give him the same power they had trusted into X's hands, so a new system had to be hammered out.

The compromise that had come about was interesting. Harpuia, Leviathan and Fefnir were all given status as Council members. Usually, that meant nothing since they were too busy to vote. But when Harpuia wanted something, it gave him a small block of support. That had come in handy when they had decided how Council members would now be picked, and who would be ultimately in charge. Eventually, they had decided that if a position opened up for a Council member, anyone on the Council would be allowed to nominate a candidate, then the Council members would vote on which one they preferred. And each Council member was allowed to designate a successor, who would receive precedence unless there was some pressing reason against it. In charge of the whole process would be the Governor, who would have some of the same powers as Master X, but watered down. Harpuia had been instrumental in bringing up Eggleston's name and supporting his nomination. His stubborn integrity had impressed Harpuia. Some of the other Council members had been less than thrilled, realizing that Eggleston would not let them get away with some of the inter-departmental games X had been too busy to clamp down on. Despite that, enough had remembered Eggleston's reputation for the nomination to go through. His reputation with the people hadn't hurt… he was known all through Neo Arcadia as a very fair, if not brilliant man. So far, Eggleston had managed to handle all the events thrown at him with assurance, and the people had faith in him. More faith than they had in Harpuia, in truth. So, Harpuia was more than willing to be gracious.

"How can I help you, Eggleston?" Harpuia said politely, and the Governor sighed, steepling his hands on the desk.

"This is a touch delicate," the Governor started, making Harpuia slightly curious. "It has recently come to my attention that you know about the Translation project." Harpuia's eyes widened, then narrowed. There was only one way the Governor could know that… if Fefnir had told him. Eggleston caught the expression on Harpuia's face, before he concealed it, and gave the Guardian a wintry smile. "Don't blame Fefnir too much. He's very loyal to you, but in this matter, he was bound to keep us informed. It is our project, after all." Harpuia nodded stiffly, but made a mental note to give Fefnir hell anyway for at least not warning him. "Do you have any questions about it?" Harpuia paused, gathering his thoughts. He did have some questions.

"Where did you get the technology for it?" Somehow, he doubted they had invented it.

"A very old laboratory that was uncovered in an archaeological dig. We found many interesting things there, many of which are currently in use. The others… well, I can forward you a report if you wish. Most of it is incomplete garbage, but interesting."

"I would appreciate that. Did Master X know about this project?" Harpuia couldn't imagine X approving of putting humans in danger. Eggleston's smile became a little sheepish.

"Ah… no. We didn't want to worry him about it." Harpuia couldn't help but snort at that. It was a gross underestimate of Master X's probable reaction, in his opinion. Eggleston shrugged. "I'm sure you know what the military situation was like when we started." Harpuia nodded slowly, but then voiced the concern that had been troubling him the most.

"Didn't the… ethical considerations concern you? I mean, the implications for how human Reploids really are?" A troubled look passed over the Governor's face.

"Everyone has thought of that," he said heavily. "Our only conclusion was… to trust Master X." Harpuia frowned.

"But he didn't know." Harpuia pointed out. Eggleston shrugged again.

"Do you really think that would have made a difference? I mean no disrespect to X, but…" Eggleston had had more than his share of confrontations with X, and knew his mind had been made of titanium when it came to his core beliefs. Harpuia winced, then shook his head. He knew the Governor was right. "Harpuia, there's something else important I need to discuss with you. I've heard that the DNA of the creatures has a quadruple helix?"

"Yes, we've managed to isolate that," Harpuia replied, slightly curious to see where the Governor was going with this. Eggleston sighed, and reached into his desk, pulling out a thick folder.

"Please take this to Leviathan and Ciel. It's all the information we have on a sample of such DNA." Harpuia stared at the folder, then the Governor.

"You knew about this gel?" If that was so, then he was… Harpuia wasn't sure what he was going to do, but it wasn't going to be pretty.

"No." Eggleston said so definitely, so firmly, that Harpuia had to believe him. The Guardian relaxed slightly. He didn't want to think that he could have been completely wrong about the Governor's character. "We found samples of quad helix DNA in another ancient facility, but it was nothing like this plague. It was completely harmless, nothing but pure samples of alien DNA. It seemed the facility was in the first stages of analyzing it when it was abandoned." Eggleston smiled, but it was more of a grimace. "Someone has obviously gone a bit farther. We had no idea there was a connection until your analysis detected the quadruple helix."

"Why do I never hear about these things?" Harpuia asked, almost annoyed. He was reaching the end of his tolerance for secrets. Eggleston chuckled softly.

"Harpuia, if we kept you updated on every single discovery our archaeological teams make, your head would explode." Harpuia's eyebrows flew up at that statement. "That's enough data to require its own dedicated server, and half of it is written in other languages. And the only reason I know that is because I cornered the Minister of Archaeology and asked him why I hadn't been informed until after he brought this folder to me. Thankfully, he was reading your reports on the gel."

"Ah, I see." And he did see the situation, now. The Translation project had been unique in that the whole Council had approved it and conspired to keep it secret. But usually, things were kept secret almost by accident. The bureaucratic process and department divisions could often conspire to keep critical information away from those who needed it most. At least the information had gotten to him in a timely manner, this time. Harpuia picked up the folder. "Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all I needed to say. Well, perhaps one last thing." Their eyes met, green on grey. "Good luck, General Harpuia."

"Good luck, Governor Eggleston." They would both need it.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" Harpuia asked Fefnir bluntly, too tired to bother with any other approach. The dark skinned Guardian was looking extremely pissed off, and new recruits were avoiding him with assiduous care. Fefnir scowled, rolling his shoulders.

"It's my own troops, that's what's wrong. If I have to smack one more of them down for mouthing off at Zero, I'm going to scream. Half the little bastards are itching for a fight. When did I get nominated as the voice of reason?" Harpuia smiled slightly at Fefnir's aggrieved tone. He was sure if the red Guardian could follow his own wishes, he'd be challenging the red terror to a duel about now. But as unit commander, it was his duty to provide an example to the troops, and make certain they followed it. Which meant Fefnir, Leviathan and Harpuia all had to be unfailingly polite to the Zero. That was irritating enough for Leviathan and Harpuia, but purely torturous for Fefnir. Then add peacekeeping duties to it…

"I'll have a talk to them, if you want." Harpuia offered, but Fefnir shook his head.

"No, it's under control, sort of. Um… what did Eggleston want to see you about?" Fefnir asked in a miserable effort at a casual tone. Harpuia eyed him sternly, and had the pleasure of seeing the big, powerful Reploid wilt under his hard stare.

"I think you can guess. Next time, could you at least talk to me before finking to the Council?" Harpuia's tone was acerbic, and Fefnir winced.

"I didn't want to, Sage, it's just… the project is their business. I had to tell them. It's the only time I've _ever_ gone to them before you, I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die."

"If you do it again, you better die before I catch up with you." Harpuia said, then let it go. They had other concerns. "Have there been any other attacks?"

"No, but there's been some activity down near Port Town. Almost seems like probing, and one of the human units got lucky and cornered a bunch of the monsters on a sweep. Liquidated 'em." Fefnir sounded amused and rather proud of the accomplishment, but Harpuia scowled. Even if the human battalions were plugging the holes in his line, he despised the need for it.

"Hrm." Harpuia walked away silently, Fefnir following behind. He could guess where the other Guardian was going, and he was right. Soon, they were walking through the laboratory door and into a lively argument. Or perhaps it would be more accurately described as a debate, because all the participants seemed to be enjoying themselves to the hilt.

"I'm telling you it will work," Joanna maintained. "We don't even have to do it ourselves, Ciel, we could just get a specialist in polymers and put them on it!" Ciel looked thoughtful at that.

"Oh, well, if it won't take time away from work on a cure, that's different. Although I don't think the gaps will let it be effective."

"I think she's right," put in a new scientist, a male Reploid named Seek. He was almost identical to his partner and sister, a female named Find. They were both specialists in genetic manipulation, although they usually worked for a civilian medical company that worked on plant, animal and human diseases. The civilian company they worked for had graciously donated their time for the duration of the crisis. "There's no way a polymer coating would be able to adhere to the joints for long. Still, it might provide some protection."

"Alright then," Leviathan said brightly. "I'll find someone to look into that. And there's another idea I had…" She explained her idea, and the conversational ball was up and bouncing again.

"I don't think they need us," Fefnir murmured to Harpuia, who nodded. It would be better if they didn't interrupt the brainstorming session. They might ruin the momentum.

_Lord Harpuia?_ Harpuia frowned as a voice tentatively spoke over his com line. He didn't recognize it. _This is Esper, at the front gate… there's someone here who says he's with the Resistance and needs to speak to Ciel and Zero right away?_ Harpuia arched an eyebrow, surprised. Even with the current truce, it took some balls to come right up to the gate.

"Keep him there, I'll be right down." Harpuia left the laboratory, and was soon at the front gate. Two very young recruits were standing nervously with the Resistance soldier… only he wasn't a soldier. Harpuia blinked as he vaguely resembled the man, from some briefings on the important characters in the Resistance. "Aren't you Cerveau?" He nodded.

"Yes, and I really need to talk to Ciel… there may be a problem." Harpuia frowned… that was an odd way to put it… but nodded, then glanced at the two recruits.

"Return to your posts." They immediately scampered off, glad to be back to the tasks they understood. Harpuia escorted Cerveau back to the laboratory, where Fefnir had gotten bored with the discussion and was writing his name into a table. Harpuia frowned at him. "Fefnir, is that really necessary?"

"No, but not much in life is." Fefnir looked at Cerveau, slightly curious. "What's this, another science geek?" Cerveau definitely had that air about him. Then Ciel happened to turn and spot him.

"Cerveau!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" Zero's head turned like a tracking turret, catching Cerveau in his sights as the engineer gave Ciel a hug. His presence here could mean nothing good.

"Well, Ciel, we've… come across something odd. You know how you told us to get in touch with all our outlying cells and bases?" Ciel nodded. Sometimes, a long time passed between communications between very far off facilities. That was to keep the danger to all of them at a minimum, since every communication increased the chance of exposure to the Neo Arcadian authorities. But in the current situation, things had changed. It had occurred to Ciel that those far flung cells and bases could be extremely vulnerable to the creatures infected with this plague, and with the lack of communication, they might not have even noticed if a few of them had been destroyed. Neo Arcadia trumpeted their victories, but not these monsters. "We have no contact with…" Cerveau gave Harpuia, Fefnir and Leviathan a nervous look. Harpuia's expression was businesslike, but Fefnir grinned and Leviathan gave him a sweet, guileless look that no one with half a brain cell would believe. "Uh…"

"For the love of all that's holy! Whisper it in my ear if you have to." Cerveau blushed, but did that, and Ciel snorted. "Cerveau, that's the worst base in existence. You can say it out loud to them."

"Um, alright," Cerveau was chagrined, but continued. "Our Arctic base has been sending us weather reports, but they won't answer our queries. And… remember how they found an abandoned research facility buried in the ice?" Ciel's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Shii and Temla were investigating, and they sent us a few reports on some interesting finds."

"I remember now," Ciel murmured softly, thinking. "But we hadn't heard anything from them in ages, had we? They said they were only going to report if they found something."

"Yes, our last report from them was six months ago," Cerveau said heavily. "If they found this disease, and it took them, they may have been lost all this time. And… two way stations are not responding, as well. Ones deep within Neo Arcadia." Ciel understood what he wasn't saying… that they couldn't check out those way stations without putting a small group in terrible jeopardy. The truce wouldn't allow them to move a large enough force through Neo Arcadia's territory to check out the problem.

"If you give us the coordinates, we'll send large teams to investigate." Harpuia cut in. He understood the problem they faced quite well… and what they would be giving up by giving him those coordinates. The way stations were obviously well-hidden and effective, and now they would be ruined, and probably much of the rest of the network Ciel and the Resistance used to get recruits out of Neo Arcadia. Ciel and Zero exchanged a glance, while Cerveau looked troubled. Then Ciel sighed.

"I suppose there's no choice. Cerveau?" He gave them the coordinates, and Harpuia nodded.

"Fefnir, see to it." He instructed the red Guardian, who grinned, pleased at the prospect of action. "And bring a bullhorn. If it turns out the soldiers are alive, try to explain the situation and verify that they're healthy." Ciel nodded. It was very unlikely that the soldiers in the way stations had somehow managed to miss Cerveau's attempts to communicate with them, but it was good to have a plan just in case. She eyed Harpuia, a little surprised. Ciel had always known he was dangerously competent, but hadn't realized how thorough he was.

"You got it, Sage." Fefnir was already giving orders through his com unit as he left the lab. "For the arctic lab…" Harpuia considered his forces for a moment. Not many could be spared from their duties, but… "Leviathan, gather a team of five from your unit. I'll bring five from mine, and we'll go check it out."

"I'm coming too," Zero said firmly. "Cerveau can stay here with Ciel." While Cerveau didn't really have the strength to protect her, he was quite sure of the Guardian's sincerity, now. She would be in very little danger. Ciel nodded, and gently gripped Zero's arm, making a cloud pass over Leviathan's face.

"Good luck, Zero."

* * *

It wasn't winter, but in the high Arctic, that hardly mattered. The air was still and icy cold, and the light in the land of the midnight sun was blinding, threatening snow blindness to anyone unwary. But it was very peaceful, without wind, plant or animal in sight… just endless, hard packed snow and ice.

Then, a series of teleports broke that peace in a dozen flashes of multi-hued light.

"Eeek!" Leviathan shivered violently as the cold air hit her, her breath suddenly steaming in the air. "This is horrible!" Reploids could survive extremes of cold that humans could not, but they didn't necessarily like it. And there were extremely unpleasant side-effects associated with freezing and re-thawing Reploids. Leviathan's lack of tolerance, though, stemmed from her life in Neo Arcadia. The capital was very well situated, with mild winters and hot summers. That was the climate she enjoyed.

"Actually, it's really mild for the Arctic. No wind chill. Believe me, it could be worse." One of Leviathan's soldiers, a female named Sylph, said with certainty. She was of medium high and slender build, with long, thick black, green eyes, and strangely full-chested. Her armor was dark blue and grass green, and clung tightly to her body in a design meant to maximize agility. Pink, swirling tattoos decorated her cheeks.

"I'll take your word for it," Leviathan replied, rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm them. There was a sudden grating sound as Zero found the hatch to the buried research complex and opened it with one quick pull. Zero jumped down, followed closely by Harpuia.

Inside the research facility, there were no lights. Harpuia and Zero used their blades to illuminate the surroundings… a cold metal hallway. They were uncomfortably crowded in the entrance hall, but there were several branches, many corridors to explore. Harpuia eyed the passageways, and came to a decision. "Leviathan, Sylph, take half the teams and start exploring. Zero, come with me. Do you know the way to the control room?"

"Yes. Follow me." Zero started down a passageway. Leviathan hesitated.

"Um, Sage? What should we do if we encounter Resistance soldiers?" Zero glanced back at her, and answered before Harpuia could.

"You won't. There's no heat, no lights. No one is here." They all looked around, suddenly nervous as they realized the implications of the lack of lights. If the Resistance soldiers were alive, it certainly wouldn't be like this. But if there were gel creatures here… would they have bothered with the heat?

"Be cautious," Harpuia ordered them, and followed Zero. There was a small flurry of activity as the group separated into two teams, and began to explore other passageways.

For Leviathan and Sylph, what followed was somewhat eerie. Neither of them had ever explored a dead base before, and the signs of struggle, interspersed with all the objects of a team that had made this place a home, were rather unnerving. The lack of lighting besides what their weapons could give did not help at all, giving the situation an uncomfortable resemblance to many horror movies.

And there were many signs of struggle. Leviathan held her spear over a bed, looking at the pink floral blankets… and the blood splattered liberally across them. The light from her spear was caught by something, making it glitter. Leviathan stared at it for a long moment, before realizing it was a teddy bear's eye. The bear itself was so heavily coated in blood, she hadn't noticed it in the blankets.

"This is so sad." One of her warriors, a tall dark male named Umbra. He shook his head. "They must have been attacked in the night… it looks like they didn't stand a chance."

"It must have been very quiet, or there were a lot of them," Leviathan agreed, turning away from the pathetic scene. "Since it seems everyone was surprised. But where are the bodies?" Umbra spread his hands… that was a mystery.

Sylph was having a similar time, although smellier.

"Ewww." Machiko, a small female Reploid with a Japanese appearance, held her nose. "Gross. Some early riser must have gotten out breakfast." Sylph grimaced. Six month old milk had pretty much turned to dust, but the stench lingered. The chair had been toppled over, the bowl flung onto the ground… and there were more gruesome bloodstains, sprayed against a wall.

Inevitably, though, as each team searched the passageways, they came towards the central part of the complex… the control room. Zero was typing at the consol when Leviathan stepped in, as Harpuia held up his blade to provide extra light for him.

"Have you found anything interesting?" She tried to look over Zero's shoulder curiously, but couldn't make much sense of what he was looking at. It seemed to be some kind of log.

"Quite a bit. This was the source of the infection. If Shii and Temla were alive, I would be tempted to kill them." Zero frowned at the log he was reading. "Shii, at least. What an idiot."

"What did she do?" Harpuia asked, trying to keep Zero's mind on track. The red terror grimaced.

"It's more what she didn't do. She kept her discovery of the DNA/nanite solution a secret from Ciel… damn her. She wanted to prove how good a scientist she was by examining it herself, then giving us the conclusions so she wouldn't have to share any of the glory." Zero examined the screen for a moment, then shook his head. "She had no idea what she was dealing with. She writes here that she thinks it might be a healing agent."

"Wonderful. I assume her decontamination procedures were inadequate?" Leviathan said sourly. Zero read farther, and shook his head.

"It's worse than that. She found the gel could animate dead Mets, so when a Resistance soldier had an accident that put him into a coma, she decided to try it on him." Harpuia's eyes widened, and Leviathan's breath hissed through her teeth at that revelation. "The last log entry says that he seems to be responding well, and she's going to bed."

"What a… a…" Leviathan sputtered, unable to find words to describe the mindset of someone who would do such a thing. "That's arrogant to the point of insanity! Unbelievable."

"There was a reason we sent her into the far Arctic," Zero said almost sadly. "We thought she wouldn't be able to get into any trouble here. Ciel is going to be very upset." That was understating the case. Zero looked up at Harpuia. "We should leave, I think, and get a science team to look through the old files to see if they can find anything." He had very few hopes for their success. Shii's logs had indicated that the computer files of the old facility were corrupted, leaving nothing but the frozen samples. But perhaps a computer expert could find something. Harpuia nodded.

"Very well." He used his com to broadcast his instructions. "Everyone, teleport back to HQ." There was a small chorus of acknowledgements.

Just before he teleported away, Harpuia glanced around the cold, dead control room, his green eyes puzzled. Something nagged at his mind. He had a distinct feeling he'd found out something important here… but he wasn't sure what.

Then he teleported away.


	7. Chapter 7

Note: In case any of you recognize it, after a fashion, one of the scenes here owes a lot to March Upcountry by David Weber. Read that book, it's GREAT. Now, on with the show!

* * *

"I've got the classic good news/bad news thing going." Fefnir said to Ciel and Cerveau, amused. Harpuia cocked his head to one side, interested. He, Leviathan and Zero had returned before Fefnir, and informed everyone of what they had found. "Which would you like to hear first?"

"After Zero's report, I think we want the good news," Ciel said sourly. She had been utterly furious with Shii's actions, and even more infuriated with the fact that the Resistance was responsible for this plague, even if only by accident. "What is it?"

"Your way station at Tau Alpha is dandy. The guy in charge was so pissed off, it was hilarious… the soldier manning the sat link had been sleeping on duty and missed Cerveau's calls." The expressions on the Resistance member's faces were priceless, at that revelation. Harpuia had to hold back a chuckle, and Leviathan didn't bother, giggling. "I thought he was going to kick the guy right out of the tree. Cute arboreal base, by the way."

"Uh, thanks. And the bad news?" Fefnir's expression sobered.

"The other one is toast. Nothing but bloodstains." There were winces all around, but no particular surprise. They had been expecting it.

"Well… we have some good news on our work with the gel," Ciel said, rubbing her forehead. "Our tests with certain sonic frequencies are promising… it really doesn't seem to like it. We're trying to isolate and intensify just the right one, now, and we're hoping that might be able to kill it." Harpuia nodded thoughtfully. "And maybe the computer techs can get something out of those old computers. If this plague was engineered in the past, a cure might have been, too."

"Yes," Leviathan agreed. "Oh, and Sage, could you ask Plastic Solutions to send us their best polymer specialist? We want to see if we can whip up with some kind of spray-on coating that will help defend the troops."

"I'll look into it. Keep up the good work, Fairy, Ciel." Leviathan pinked with pleasure as the mild compliment, and smiled. Ciel's smile was more strained, but she was still dealing with the shock of the revelations about Shii's actions. Harpuia glanced at Cerveau. "Do you want a teleport back to the Resistance base?"

"Only nearby… we have an anti-teleport field." Cerveau said easily, and Harpuia frowned to himself. He had known that, but had briefly forgotten. "But yes, I should get back before they start to worry." He hugged Ciel again. "Good luck, Ciel."

"Good luck, Cerveau."

* * *

Later that day, in Fefnir's room, quiet music was playing. Along with dim lights, and a holo display of shifting, soothing colors, it gave his quarters a beautiful, peaceful ambience.

All of the Guardians had extremely large quarters. Copy X hadn't planned it that way, and had been a bit annoyed with the circumstances that had led to it. While he had been concentrating on the defensive placements, he had used army contractors to build the more common areas of the HQ. Those contractors had been very familiar with the hierarchy of military organizations, and with the listing of numbers and ranks X had given them, had built the quarters according to their own notions of propriety. A Guardian could have spartan quarters if he wished: but they would be larger than anyone else's. And Master X's were the largest of them all. That was simply a perk of high rank, in the minds of the builders.

X hadn't been particularly pleased, when he'd found out. He had envisioned simple, common sized quarters for everyone. By the time he found out otherwise, though, changing the plans would have been far more trouble than it was worth. So the Guardians had quarters big enough for a small party. Fefnir was taking advantage of that fact, although not quite intentionally. By some bizarre silent agreement, Leviathan and Harpuia had joined him in his quarters. Fefnir was sitting on the loveseat, slowly giving Hook a backrub, as she sat on the ground in front of him. Her head drooped down as she sighed, relaxing into the attention he was giving her. Leviathan was sprawled on the nearby sofa, wearing a pink sweat suit and staring at the holo, entranced by the colors. Harpuia was on the last available seat, a very comfortable ottoman. He had his chin in one hand, and was watching Fefnir and Hook, his mind a million miles away.

_There was something about that log Zero read… something, but what?_ Harpuia watched, not really seeing, as Fefnir and Hook switched places and she began giving him a slow, sensual massage. _Something important, something that could explain something… but what?_ The feeling that he was missing something knawed at him.

"I'm missing something," he finally said with a sigh. Leviathan turned her head slightly, fixing him with drowsy eyes.

"Why don't you sleep on it, Harpuia? Maybe you'll dream." Harpuia considered that. If he went to sleep soon, he would have enough time… regular sleep took much longer than a session in the recharger, but then he would dream. It was a long shot, but maybe the free associations of dreaming would make things clearer.

"Maybe you should both sleep on it," Fefnir suggested, and they both turned their heads to see that Hook was now sitting beside him, and they were cuddling quite extensively.

"Would that be a hint to get out of your room?" Leviathan said with a small smile.

"I'm not even sure how you got here in the first place, so yeah, I'd say it is," Fefnir replied with a grin, planting a kiss on Hook's throat. Harpuia smiled, then pushed himself to his feet. Leviathan followed his lead with a sigh.

"I envy you. Have fun." Leviathan followed Harpuia out of the room, feeling tired and a little dejected. She wondered if she would ever have someone to care about as much as Fefnir did for Hook, and she did for him. An image of Zero filled her mind, his lovely blond hair flowing in the breeze…

Completely unaware of Leviathan's fantasies, Harpuia entered his own quarters and bid her a good night. Leviathan nodded absently, walking down to her own rooms. Instead of reading a book or baking before having a quick session in the recharger, Harpuia elected to use his bed.

Dreams might not hold the answer, but they should at least be interesting.

* * *

_It was not a dream. Harpuia knew that immediately. It was a nightmare._

_He almost cursed himself for not realizing this would happen, then stopped. Perhaps a nightmare was what he needed to see the truth of the matter. Or perhaps not. Perhaps all he would see was the reflections of his fears._

_The city was a burnt out husk. He could just barely recognize it as Laguna, the beautiful little town he had visited in his search for Leo's past. The bakery was gone, now. The little café's umbrellas had been torn to pieces, the white fabric stained with congealed blood._

_Unlike the Rebellion base, there were bodies everywhere, human and Reploid both. Harpuia tried to avoid stepping on them, but it was impossible… there was simply too many. He winced at the faint squelching sounds his feet made, as he accidentally trod on a human corpse._

_Suddenly, one of the bodies caught his eye. The armor was almost unrecognizable, torn and coated with blood, but the spidery purple hair…_

_"Muffy?" He knelt down beside her, gently turning over the limp, frail body. Her face was blank, her green eyes cold and empty. A thin line of drool trailed down one cheek. "Muffy…" Harpuia closed his eyes in grief. He had lost so many members of his unit, over the years, that he usually felt only a brief pain. But Muffy… Muffy was special, with her endearingly deranged habits. It was hard to imagine the unit without her constant monologues to keep them company._

_There was a tug on his arm, and Harpuia's eyes shot open. He stared into Muffy's face, the eyes that were now focused on him… and she smiled._

_"Harpuia."__ She breathed, yanking him closer, as if for a kiss. And the line of drool on her cheek… moved._

_Harpuia__ shoved her away with an urgency that approached panic. She opened her mouth, and more gel slid out, spilling down the front of her armor. She reached for him again-_

_"No!" His blade slashed through the air with a wicked hum, neatly removing her head. The body spasmed and gel splattered away, but then it collapsed. They had already established that the gel needed a mostly intact neural system, although injuries that would kill a normal Reploid did not affect it. Removing the head, or striking for the main body, did._

_Harpuia__ stood up shakily, staring at the corpse… then glanced around him. He was horrified to see the gel and weed growths were infesting the dead bodies before his very eyes. Soon, they would be moving, and there were far too many for him to avoid without becoming infected. There was only one thing to do… he activated his jets and began to fly away._

_His path was random, twisting, but it somehow brought him to the police station. He paused over the shattered building, sickened by the destruction. Below him, he could see Officer McIntyre, looking pale, surprised and very dead. Officer Bebe was there as well, but he at least would not be rising from the dead. The memorial was broken, and a chunk of it had been thrown through his chest. Gleaming shards of the titanium composite were scattered everywhere. He hesitated, then landed, looking around for anyone alive._

_"Harpuia!"__ He turned at the familiar voice, and felt a surge of relief as he saw Leviathan running toward him. She seemed unhurt, uninfected. But she stopped before she reached him, a strange expression on her face and her eyes on his… feet?_

_"You stepped in it," she said, her voice without inflection. Filled with a sudden dread, Harpuia followed her gaze to his feet… and saw the tendrils of gel that were already creeping up his jade and white armor. As if his gaze had encouraged them, they suddenly extended farther, sliding up his stomach and over his sides. A surge of weakness sent him to his knees, his eyesight hazing out around the edges. He looked up as Leviathan stepped closer, raising her spear._

_"I'm sorry, Sage," she said compassionately, and Harpuia's eyes widened as he realized what she meant to do._

_"Fairy, no!" _

"_-but this is for the best."_

* * *

Harpuia woke with a violent start just as the blow fell, and glanced around wildly for a moment. Then he relaxed as he registered where he was, and reached up to rub his forehead. It was early morning, but a quick check of his systems showed he had replenished almost all his energy with the brief sleep. It would be enough, and he needed to think.

The key had been in the nightmare as well, he sensed. But it was still maddeningly elusive. What could it…

Harpuia's eyes widened as a sudden bolt of clarity came to him, and he immediately swung out of bed, calling his armor to himself. If he was correct, he knew the answer to a question that had occurred to them before… and perhaps a starting point to finding the real nest of these creatures, if he was lucky.

He walked quickly through the corridors of HQ, ignoring his surroundings. Soon, he was at the telepad. The operator looked up at him curiously. "The warehouse district, near the recycling facilities." She punched the coordinates in obediently, despite her obvious interest in what he could want there.

The warehouse district was perhaps the dullest part of Neo Arcadia. The presence of the recycling facilities added grim to dull, even though they were almost entirely shut down now. The few workers about took one look at Harpuia's grim expression, and avoided him. Not precisely fearfully, but in the manner of people looking to avoid a possible storm front.

Harpuia reached one particular warehouse, and examined the locks on the door. There were several of them, governed by a number pad. There was no way to get in without the code, unless you were willing to remove the door. But as it happened, Harpuia didn't object to removing the door. A few slashes and a quick pull later, he stepped into the warehouse.

He knew what he should have found here. The bodies of the low-level Reploids that had been ordered retired by Master X, to lower the strain on the power grid. A sight both grim and pathetic, they should have been stacked on top of each other, like industrial garbage. Harpuia had only been here once before, and had been repelled by the indignity of it.

Now, though, there was nothing but the dark smears of Reploid blood on the floor. And a very large hole that led into the sewers. Harpuia stared at it for a long moment, dark thoughts running through his mind.

_This plague is like a judgment upon us,_ he thought, closing his eyes in pain. _It's using our own dead… no, the ones we killed against us._ The irony in that was dreadful. He almost wished Master X had still been alive to see it… and wondered if he would grasp the irony. Probably not. Harpuia took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, looking into the hole. He was tempted to explore it immediately, but that would be a very foolish thing to do. If the gel creatures still lurked there, he would probably be quickly infected. The best strategies for avoiding the goo needed maneuvering room, and the tunnel would deny him that. In fact, it would probably be certain death for anyone who dared try it, although they might have to anyway.

Turning away from the hole, Harpuia teleported back to HQ. He would have to let the others know right away.

Not very long later, down in the laboratory…

"…And that's the situation." Harpuia finished explaining his deductions to a rapt audience. Looking back on it, he realized what had triggered his suspicions… the words of the log had referred to the nanite gel animating a _dead_ Met. Until then, they had only seen how it affected the living, but how could enough living Reploids have disappeared to make up the army of creatures that was assaulting them? The revelation that it affected the dead, if the body was sufficiently intact, had given him the clue he needed. "But until we have a cure, I think sending teams down through dark sewer tunnels after these things would be almost suicide." Fefnir winced, and nodded. Of all of them, his unit had experienced the closest combat against the monsters.

"You got that right. The easiest way to deal with these things is keeping them at a distance." Fefnir rubbed his head, scowling. "If these things are in the sewer system, though… shit, this is bad. And there were a whole lot of bodies in that warehouse." Harpuia winced, wishing Fefnir hadn't mentioned that.

"We have some good news, though." Leviathan said almost cheerfully. "Those crazy Rebellion scientists in the Arctic weren't too good with computers. We're recovering the files as we speak." Ciel looked slightly embarrassed, but didn't comment. The information about where the alien plague had come from had been released to the public in a slightly edited fashion. It had been presented as an ancient bio-weapon some Reploid explorers had unwittingly released, rather than negligence on the part of the Resistance. Governor Eggleston was hoping to parley the truce into something more lasting, and that would be difficult if everyone was furious with the Resistance for being idiots. "If there's a cure in there, we'll find it."

"Excellent. And the work on the sonic frequencies?" Leviathan and Ciel exchanged a glance, then Ciel shook her head.

"It's not going so well. So far, if we jack the frequency high enough to cure the Reploid, it damages the Reploid in question severely."

"Repairable?" Fefnir asked, and Ciel held her hand up, moving it in a 'maybe' gesture.

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It's better than nothing, but…" She shrugged helplessly. "The polymer coating is actually going better. We've come up with something strong enough that it actually might do some good. It should be ready for tomorrow. How's the purely military situation coming?"

"Not too well," Harpuia admitted. "We've beaten off several attacks, but the creatures are becoming bolder. But the greatest danger is that they might be lairing beneath Neo Arcadia itself." Everyone winced at that thought. "Ciel, Leviathan, as soon as you have a cure, please let me know." They nodded, and the meeting broke up as everyone went to their separate tasks. Harpuia rubbed his forehead. With the new threat, he had put his own unit on a state of high alert. But that could only be maintained so long, before alertness dulled.

He only hoped Ciel would find a cure soon.

* * *

Fefnir leaned against one of the fortifications, looking down. It was the dead of night, and all of the civilians had been moved within the military base of Port Town. They didn't actually _know_ that an attack was imminent, but several groups of the creatures had been spotted in this area. Nighttime evacuations were a bitch, so they'd told everyone to take a blanket and moved them to the lower levels of the base, which had been designed with this kind of situation in mind. It had been easier to do than Fefnir had feared. Most of the human and Reploid civilians seemed relieved to be behind secure walls, even if it meant they had to give up the comforts of home.

_Wolverine, this is Ferret One._ Fefnir tilted his head, listening in, although he was not the one being addressed. That was the 4th Battalion's communication net. Not that it particularly mattered… the communication nets had been somewhat combined, with a great deal of practice. _We have movement._

_Fefnir__, this is Sahara,_ came a soft, sweet female voice. _We have movement too._ Fefnir softly growled a curse, as he looked at the tactical plot. Ferret One and Sahara were on opposite sides of the base, using rooftop positions. The enemy was coming from more than one direction.

More confirmations came in, and the plot began to gleam with hostile icons as sensors focused on the bizarre readings of the semi-Reploids.

"Plan Alpha, everyone." Fefnir ordered, his voice oddly echoed by the human commander of the 4th. There was a chorus of confirmations, and the scouts began to fall back. There was no point in them remaining in the vulnerable outer positions, now that the enemies presence had been confirmed. Then Fefnir arched an eyebrow as someone began transmitting on the unit frequency… the one that was still reserved for his Jin'en unit.

_Guys, I just want you to know that I have been honored and privileged to work with you all,_ Gumbo said, managing to sound halfway serious. There were several aw's in answer, and a few raspberries. _So let's go and make Fefnir proud! Remember… blast anything that moves! _Laughter, now. Fefnir shook his head, but chuckled, letting Gumbo go on. It was bad communication discipline, but this wasn't the Rekku and he wasn't Harpuia. _And remember, we're the best, of the best of the best! Well, actually, maybe not that first best, that would be the Rekku… and the second would be the Meikai… and actually, I think Phantom's guys were above us but we're still darn good…! _More laughter, this time, and a few whistles. _And just in case I die, there's one thing I just have to say!_

_What's that?_ Hook's voice. _Tell us, tell us!_ Fefnir recognized that as Orzo, not exactly a newbie but not very long in his unit, either.

_In case I die, I just gotta say…_ Gumbo said with a choked back sob. _Fefnir__, I LOVE YOU MAN!_

"Oh you BETTER die!" Fefnir snarled into the communicator as his whole unit broke into hysterical laughter. Then the firing started, just as the creatures came into view.

"WHAT is going on with the Jin'en?" One of the human officers asked his own unit commander, who looked over with a frown. There was nothing actually wrong with what the Reploid unit was doing. The firing pattern was wild, if effective, and they were blasting away… but then, it wasn't as if they needed reloads. Still, the nearest ones he could see seemed to be… laughing? Curious, the unit commander tuned into the private Jin'en frequency just in time to hear…

_No, man, I really LOVE you!_ Gumbo protested, and there was more hysterical laughter. Fefnir's voice came clearly over the com, growling threats about what he would do when he got his heterosexual hands on Gumbo's homosexual throat. The human unit commander shook his head, then switched back to his own unit frequency.

"They're just playing around. Keep up your own fire." He wouldn't have allowed that kind of thing in his own unit… but if it worked for them, it worked for them. So the Jin'en went into battle with laughter on their lips.

Morale could not have possibly been higher.


	8. Battle against the Slime Monster!

Harpuia stood still as two technicians slowly sprayed him with the polymer coating. When they were finished, it was thick and uncomfortable… particularly when combined with the plastic facemask they had him don to protect his face. Harpuia had the feeling that if it was uncomfortable now, it was going to be excruciating after a few hours. Reploids did not sweat like humans, but the artificial skin and musculature was not supposed to be covered by an impermeable membrane at all times, either.

Despite the discomfort, though, this was the best thing they had. The nanite gel would not penetrate plastics, so it was hoped that this would provide enough coverage to keep them uninfected. Harpuia had decided they could delay searching the tunnel no longer. They at least had something, now, and the possible presence of the creatures in Neo Arcadia's old, extensive sewer system was a potential dagger at their throat.

Harpuia, Zero, Muffy and Sylph began the reconnaissance. Many of the sewer tunnels were quite small, and a larger team would have been a liability. Zero was looking acutely uncomfortable, his hair braided and pinned beneath his helmet to avoid being a weak point in the polymer coating. Muffy's hair was also up, but it was so fine that she hardly noticed, and Sylph had simply cut hers off. When there was leisure time, she would have the techs replace it.

"Gods, this place stinks," Sylph muttered, her voice oddly muffled by the plastic facemask. She was carrying a very large halogen light, illuminating the way for them. It showed nothing worth remembering… ugly stone, dingy water, and a considerable spider and rat population. The last, at least, shied away from the light.

"Smells like my poppa's shoes," Muffy agreed, making Harpuia wonder about her human family. "Or a really big fart. Or a dead whale. Or-"

"Muffy, please," Harpuia said tiredly, as Zero choked on a laugh. Muffy let that thought trail off, but immediately latched onto another one.

"I am a one-eyed one-toed blind purple people eater… and I eat hamburgers… made of people… only left-handed west coast immigrant bag pipe technicians… Harpuia, where are the mets?"

"Huh?" Harpuia had been on the brink of tuning her out, but that question captured his attention. "Hm… I don't know." That was a little odd. The sewers were maintained by hordes of mets. Yet they had seen none, and the sewer was looking distinctly worse for wear.

"Slime chow," Sylph muttered, and they winced, but didn't disagree. She was probably right.

"I wonder how intelligent the disease is," Zero finally said, after several minutes of walking. "It must think, at least a bit, to have stayed hidden down here."

"I suspect its more cunning than smart," Harpuia said quietly. "It doesn't use tools at all." They had discovered, from analysis, that the fortifications in New Las Verda had been blown up by the gel getting some of its infected Reploids inside, then deliberately overloading their generators, using them as crude explosives. Effective, but it had never managed the trick again. "I think it's perhaps as smart as a house cat, or perhaps a monkey, but not much more."

"Monkey's are plenty clever," Sylph said uneasily. Muffy suddenly giggled.

"Monkey barrel, it's a barrel of laughs! Connect the dots and win the prize. Tee hee, what a prize… the booby prize…" Harpuia twitched uncomfortably, frowning at that.

"There's light ahead," Sylph suddenly said, and switched off her light so they could see it more clearly. Harpuia's eyes narrowed, and Zero frowned. The light ahead was not the warmth of daylight, or the harshness of fluorescents. It was much dimmer, and an odd greenish color.

"I wonder," Muffy said dreamily. "Fungi can glow in the dark you know. Does alien slime stuff?"

"Perhaps in a high enough concentration," Harpuia said grimly. The creatures they had seen so far had shown no sign of it, but if there was a _lot_ of it ahead, maybe it would behave differently. "Let's find out." Zero nodded and walked beside Harpuia, Muffy and Sylph bringing up the rear.

When they reached the source of the glow, Harpuia stared, only vaguely understanding what he was looking at. The huge, amphitheatre-like chamber below them was familiar from the quick studies he had done before they had entered the sewers. Neo Arcadia was quite old, built on the ruins of earlier cities, and the brief history of the underground he had managed to dredge up had mentioned a vast underground rail network that had once connected the city. He was looking at one of the rail depots, or what was left of it. But what inhabiting it now was not a train.

"My god, it's formed an amoeba." Sylph gasped out, as they stared at the sea of undifferentiated tissue beneath them. It was possible, if you looked closely, to see patches of weed and metal… but most of it was simply the gel, undulating slowly and giving off the weird light.

"It seems when enough of it is in one place, it doesn't need an intact neural network," Zero said, and Harpuia quietly marveled at how calm he sounded. Surely this had to be a first, even for him.

"The Blob!" Muffy gasped. "It's back from the Arctic and it's going to eat us all…!" Harpuia opened his mouth to rebuke her, then hesitated. That old movie was too similar to this situation for comfort.

"How do we kill it?" Sylph asked, taking the practical approach. Harpuia and Zero exchanged a glance. This was not some invention of Weil's, which might be expected to have a weak point. This was more like… a communal organism. Could it be killed at all with simple force? Or would they just waste themselves slashing uselessly at it? And it did seem at least partially intelligent, so how would it respond to that? That last thought gave Harpuia chills. There were so many people in the city above them…

"Teleport back to HQ, before it notices us," Harpuia ordered, and all three of his companions nodded. Four flashes of light, and the blob was alone again. It had never noticed their arrival, and did not notice their departure.

"Harpuia!" Leviathan was waiting for him in the telepad room, a wide grin on her face. The grim expressions on their faces didn't deter her in the least. "We've found a cure! The computer files we found had a counteragent, and we're synthesizing it right now!"

"Excellent timing. But forgive me, Fairy, there's something I need to see to." Harpuia went to the nearest view screen, and quickly placed an outbound call. A familiar, human face filled the screen… a young woman with very short black hair, in a conservatively cut dress suit. "I need to speak to the Governor, please." The woman hesitated a long moment, staring at him.

"…General Harpuia?" She said uncertainly. "Is that you?" Harpuia blinked, suddenly realizing that between the dark blue polymer coating and the plastic facemask, it would be very difficult to tell.

"Yes, it is. Could you please get him right away? It's important." Certain of his identity now, the receptionist nodded and put him on hold. Harpuia always hated that, but it didn't take more than a minute or two for the Governor's face to appear in the screen.

"Harpuia? How may I help you?" Eggleston asked, sounding both curious and concerned. His concern only increased as he took in the strange plastic coating Harpuia was wearing.

"How quickly can you get the city evacuated?" Harpuia asked, and Eggleston's eyes narrowed as he considered the question

"Four hours, at a minimum… and things never go smoothly, so it will be longer than that. Why?"

"We've found a concentration of the alien gel beneath the city," Harpuia said, and Eggleston's expression became alarmed. "It seems to have reached a critical mass by infecting the bodies of the Reploids Master X had retired to conserve energy, and has combined them into a large amoeboid form. We now have a cure, so we're going to move to eliminate it as soon as the city is clear." Leviathan's eyes went round as she heard what the gel had become, but she nodded, confident in the cure they had found.

"I see," Eggleston said, then paused a moment, thinking. "The evacuation could be speeded up with the help of some of your people, to give the police extra authority. If nothing else, their presence will lend emphasis to the seriousness of the situation." Harpuia nodded.

"We'll give you any support you need, Governor." He wanted to get the civilians away from trouble as quickly as he could. Eggleston smiled thinly.

"In that case, here are the evacuation plans… Councilor Drosden is in charge of implementing them. You'll have to liaise with her." Harpuia nodded expressionlessly. On a personal level, he strongly disliked Drosden. She was quite egalitarian with her attitudes about Reploids, but completely contemptuous of the military and its culture. That attitude had put them at odds more than once, sometimes bitterly, but Harpuia had to admit she was efficient and would know where to put his troops. Dealing with her just wouldn't be pleasant. "I'll contact her immediately and instruct her to begin the evacuation."

"Thank you, Governor." Once the connection was terminated, Harpuia turned to Leviathan. "What cure have you found?" She immediately brightened as she thought about their discovery.

"It was so simple! In the past, they used fossil fuels and petrochemicals far more extensively than we did now," Leviathan explained. "And sometimes there were spills. To clean it up, when that happened, they engineered a bacteria that would devour anything petrochemical based. It would multiply rapidly until the petrochemicals were all gone, then die off itself. And the gel is petrochemical based." Harpuia's eyes narrowed, and Leviathan nodded with a grin. "The bonding agent that holds the nanites and alien DNA together will be eaten right up by the bacteria! With that gone, they become harmless! We've already synthesized it and tested it on that Resistance soldier, and it works!" Harpuia froze for a moment at that.

"Stray. Is he…" Even as he voiced the question, Harpuia knew it was a ridiculous hope. Leviathan's expression sobered.

"No… I'm sorry, Sage, but when the higher functions are gone, they're gone. Ciel's already terminated what was left." Everyone winced, and Zero started out to return to the laboratory. Harpuia let him go… Ciel would need him, and it would be hours before they could begin fighting the blob in any case.

"How much can you synthesize in four hours?" That was the critical part. Leviathan frowned.

"I'm not sure… let me go check." Harpuia shook his head.

"Make as much as you can." However much that was… it would have to be enough.

* * *

"I must have missed a class," Fathom, a tiny female from the Meikai, complained halfheartedly to her companion.

"Huh?" He replied indistinctly, owing to the fact he was eating a chocolate bar a small child had given him. He was perhaps twice her size, with dark green armor accented with gold. He was called Quill, and his name suited his hair, which was very thick, bushy and spiky, much like the quills of a porcupine. "'bout what?"

"This!" Fathom's gesture took in most of the near surroundings.

The place they were in was considered one of the most beautiful in the city, perhaps the country. It was the glorious grounds of the University of Neo Arcadia, where students went to pursue higher learning and academics went to pursue their research. The grounds were lovely, filled with cherry and apple trees that thrived in Neo Arcadia's mild winters and hot summers. The buildings were equally beautiful, made of white stone that dated back to the founding of Neo Arcadia. Additions had been built and renovations done, but mostly, their glory had stayed intact.

Right now, the police were attempting to evacuate the hallowed halls of learning, and it was going poorly. The problem wasn't with the students. Mostly from outside of Neo Arcadia itself… local students lived at home, not the dorms… they had very little to hold them here and had evacuated with alacrity. The academics were the problem. Passionately wedded to their subjects, they wanted to take everything along, ignoring the fact that it couldn't be moved with two carts and a trolley. Archaeologists were about the worst, with the biologists as a close second, and the librarians coming in as a distant third. From where they were standing, they could see a tiny old human archaeologist who was managing to bully a Reploid police officer into pushing her dolly of ancient items. It would have been funny if it hadn't been so discouraging.

"I don't think there are classes for this sort of thing," Quill said, managing to swallow the last of the chocolate bar and thinking kind thoughts about the child who had given it to him. Kids could be really sweet, in his opinion. "You sort of have to wing it."

"Bleh," Fathom shook her head, scowling. "But it's all so… so messy! Why don't people understand how critical the situation is? It shouldn't be this disorganized." Quill regarded her with mild concern. Her light blue and pink armor was spotless, despite the circumstances. But that was Fathom, always ready for inspection.

He had known Fathom almost from the day she had been made, and knew her character quite well. A rather anal personality type, she liked to have all her ducks in order, neatly arranged by size and color. Which wasn't in itself a bad thing, but Fathom lacked mental flexibility and had a great deal of trouble coping with messy situations she could do nothing about. When she could enforce her own will on it, she did well… like in combat… but not otherwise.

Their task was simple, though, as long as they obeyed orders. They were there to be a presence and do whatever the police asked. So far, that had been limited to helping herd a bunch of kids from the campus daycare, the ones whose parents had been beyond contacting. Hence the chocolate bar.

Still, the evacuation was more than half over. Except for the malingering archaeologists, most of the buildings around here were evacuated, and if they could just-

A hair-raising scream cut through the general commotion, making them both start. It was a sound of stark terror, and they both searched, trying to locate the source. Quill felt like vomiting, when he did.

A huge tendril of gleaming greenish/white _stuff_ had flowed out of a sewer grate, so quietly it had gone unnoticed until it had seized a Reploid woman, a female archaeologist. And it wasn't just infecting her, it was _crushing_ her. Her screams were of agony, now, and he could hear the sound of bending and snapping metal from across the grass.

"DIE!" Fathom launched herself at the gel, a well-honed killing machine. Quill swore and followed in her path.

"Fathom, dammit, your sword won't-" Quill's protest died as she slashed the tendril of gel, severing it. The ends were seared, the gel shriveling to a yellow color, and for a moment he thought it would work. But then the dead tissue was simply expelled, and the stuff flowed back together. Fathom shrieked in frustrated rage, and kept slashing as Quill emptied his weapon into it… an acid based weapon. If anything, his acid shots had an even better effect than Fathom's sword. The police and archaeologists fled, and Quill could only hope they would reach safety.

"Ahhhh!" Fathom screamed as a thin tendril of the gel hit her in the chest with fantastic force. Gel flowed over her, and no matter how much she tried to slash, there was always more. Quill actually fired a shot on her, trying to take the gel off her no matter how much it would damage her. But it didn't do enough and he was just readying another shot when a much larger tendril hit him from behind, pinning his arms to his sides and lifting him into the air… then bashing him against the side of the Institute building, head first.

When the super solution of nanites and alien DNA began to dissolve his body, unconsciousness proved to be a blessing.

* * *

"Harpuia, it's everywhere!" Muffy gasped, as they both sprayed the largest concentration of the gel. It flinched away from them, and bits of it sloughed off where their solution touched the monster. Harpuia smiled grimly… he was too agile for it, in the air, and if anything Muffy was even better. The Rekku were earning their paychecks today, spraying the stuff from the air, then darting away as it tried to retaliate.

And the solution was working. It was probably silly to attribute emotions to such a thing, but the gel seemed confused and in pain. The bacterial solution they were spraying seemed to be as brutally infectious as the gel itself, and as they watched pockets of yellow opened up all along the goo they had sprayed. The gel tried to rid itself of the infection by shedding them, but it couldn't seem to really do it… the sores just reappeared, as the bacteria kept seeking new fuel for its relentless growth.

But Muffy was right, too. There was just so damn much of it that it might take hours for the solution to reach every part of it, even with all the Rekku spraying it from the air. Harpuia's lips tightened as he went in for another pass, thinking about the Meikai and the Jin'en. Their casualty rates were much uglier than his unit, since most of them could not fly. Harpuia remembered Fefnir's torrent of swearing when the first tendrils appeared, and he found out how strong they were. Most of all, Harpuia regretted that the evacuation hadn't been finished when the monster had struck. It had probably sensed all the toothsome Reploids it had been snacking on… Harpuia was sure it had to have been feeding… going out of reach, and had decided to act. The only blessing of the situation was that it seemed to be interested only in feeding, and was going almost exclusively for Reploids. The humans were escaping fairly well… although that made Harpuia wonder why it had killed so many humans in New Las Verda. Had it not been able to tell them apart then? Had it done it simply for the fun of it?

_Maybe I should stop considering the motives of gel and just concentrate,_ he chided himself as he narrowly dodged a seeking tendril.

"Water bombs, bombs of water, soak you through!" Muffy caroled as she sprayed the tendril that had tried to hit him. "Wee, it's a gas! Aw, I'm out, be right back!" She abandoned him with stunning swiftness, but Harpuia didn't mind. That was according to his orders, and she would be back as soon as she had a full tank of the bacteria.

But to Harpuia's surprise, someone else appeared before Muffy could return.

"I hope you're qualified to use that!" He called to Zero, who was handling a jet pack with what looked like fairly high skill. The red terror flashed him a hand signal that made Harpuia choke, then smile. "And you need to stop hanging out with Fefnir!" That sort of gesture was the last thing he would have expected from Zero.

_I learned that from Alouette, actually,_ Zero's calm voice came over his communicator. _Let's keep working on this stuff. It may already be dying, but there's more that can be done._

"Yes, indeed." They both dove at the ooze to empty their canisters. The more bacteria in the ooze, the faster it would dissolve.

Neither one was expecting what happened a moment later.

There was a tremendous explosion, and gel seemed to _fly_ everywhere. It immediately turned brown and inert, but a sliver of pain seemed to run down Harpuia's body like a chord struck painfully high. He doused himself with a bit of the bacteria solution, to be certain the gel that had coated him was dead, then looked at the scene below him.

_Weil?_ Harpuia's eyes darted to the much, much larger figure… which seemed to be charging something. _Omega?_ For a moment, he felt nothing but blankness. What were they doing here?

Then Omega released the energy he had charged, and Harpuia felt a wave of crashing pain. It was as if every part of his body had been hit with a tuning fork, vibrating painfully. But the gel reacted even more violently, shattering like dropped glass. Harpuia drifted down, unable to hold his course, and saw Zero was having even worse problems with his jetpack. For a moment, it almost looked like he would go into a window, but then he managed to steady himself.

_The sonics,_ Harpuia thought through his haze of pain. _The sonics Ciel and Leviathan tried to use against it… but they couldn't without damaging US as well. He's made a cannon out of it and armored Omega against it, somehow. But why?_ With Weil, the old adage, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' just didn't hold water. If he was destroying the gel, he was doing it for his own purposes.

Harpuia's assessment was immediately proved correct, as Weil turned towards something and began to speak. It wasn't hard to hear him… the man had a wonderfully loud, sonorous voice, perfect for public speaking.

"Citizens of Neo Arcadia! Today, I have saved you from-" Harpuia didn't listen any farther, suddenly seized with a rarely felt rage. _He_ had saved them? With a cannon at the end that does as much damage to THEM as to the gel? _How dare he? How DARE he?_ Worse came a moment later, as Weil smoothly began to tell the audience that _he_ was the only one truly competent to rule Neo Arcadia.

Harpuia looked around for the transmission point, and finally spotted it. A little robotic platform that was probably relaying the whole thing up to a satellite. And not so far away was Muffy, wearing a new tank of bacterial solution and looking confused. She had come in after Weil's use of the sonic cannon. Harpuia smiled grimly, and activated his com.

"Muffy, I have a dangerous task for you," he said softly. Even from fifty feet away, he could see her face brighten.

_Command me, Lord!_ Harpuia let that bizarre note slide. He'd probably accidentally picked the wording from a movie she'd seen.

"Get onto that platform and yank it over so it faces me. Hold it, no matter what happens," he instructed her, and she nodded, blazing over in a swift, smooth move. She landed on it with a loud smacking sound, sitting on it with her legs spread out and the camera between them, and jerked it over with a wide grin.

"NO!" Harpuia shouted, staring into the camera. He knew his voice was raw, tired from all the work he had been doing, the orders he had been giving. But he hoped passion would make up for delivery, and stared at the camera, then looked at Weil in disgust. "We are the ones, not you, who have created the bacteria that can end this plague! We are the ones who have been defending all of Neo Arcadia against it! How dare you try to claim our victory? How dare you try to say that we are not fit to rule ourselves? You disgust me! At his worst, Master X at least believed in something greater than himself, while you only believe in your own power! Get out of here, Weil-" Muffy screamed as she was blasted from the platform, and Harpuia concluded his speech anyway, uncertain if he was being seen. "Neo Arcadia banished you once for your crimes against humanity, and we banish you again!"

"I do not recognize your authority to do any such thing," Weil called back to him. "But if that is how you wish it… Omega, destroy them!" The huge Reploid moved with sinuous grace, and Harpuia barely dodged as its sword whistled by. Zero dropped to the ground, shedding the jet pack which had been such a help against the gel. It would only be a hindrance for him against Omega.

_He's gotten much, much better,_ Harpuia realized as the combat progressed. Omega was holding Zero to a standstill, and still managing to fend off his attacks. Harpuia's eyes narrowed and he kept trying to press his attacks home. Eventually, something would have to give.

It did, but not the way he had hoped. Omega let loose with the sonic cannon again, at much lower power but focused on Zero. The red warrior reeled, then was smashed through a wall with one well-placed blow. Omega suddenly turned his full attention on Harpuia, and fired a new cannon, unused until now. Harpuia easily avoided the first shot… and then the cold, tactical mind saw what he had missed, a second cannon beneath the first. A new beam of energy shot out at him, but he was still dodging the first shot and there was simply no time to react.

But it wasn't a normal shot. Instead of burning pain, Harpuia felt cold paralyzation. The flow of energy held him as gently as a mother holding her baby… but rendered him as helpless as a baby, and that was unbearable. Harpuia struggled to find some way, any way out as Weil laughed and his swords dropped from his hands.

"So, the hero of Neo Arcadia," Weil said mockingly, amused by the anger in Harpuia's eyes. "General Harpuia, 3rd Council member… very impressive. Or not. You think you can do better than me?" Harpuia grit his teeth as the energy suddenly changed, and pain flashed through his body. Pain, accompanied by a tingling sensation… Harpuia realized that he was being charged with energy. His body was trying to absorb it, convert it, but that was a hopeless task. When too much of it finally hit his fusion generator…

_He means to show everyone my death,_ Harpuia realized, and smiled, but it was more of a grimace. _This will do wonders for morale._ But there was nothing he could do but brace himself against the pain, and present a cool, brave face to the world. That, he could do, and did, fixing Weil with a cold, disdainful gaze.

Neither one of them noticed the one person who wasn't incapacitated in some way. Muffy cautiously crawled closer to Harpuia, and picked up one of his blades.

"_SLICE YOU LIKE A CUCUMBER!_" That war cry was too jarring, too surreal for Weil to do anything but stare. That moment of shock was his undoing, as Muffy slammed Harpuia's sword into Omega's cannon, the one that was holding him still. It exploded, throwing her away like a piece of fluff. Harpuia was released, and dropped to the ground with a jarring thud. Zero was pulling himself out of the shattered building, his expression cold and set to take on Weil and Omega again.

But then… they teleported away.

"What the…?" Harpuia was faintly disbelieving. Even without the cannon Omega had used on him, Weil's creature was still fresh where he and Zero had been combating gel for hours… then Harpuia realized why the lunatic had beat a retreat, as several members of his unit swooped down on their position, and Fefnir jogged up. He was looking grim, but relief filled his face as he saw them.

"Harp! You okay!" Harpuia gave him a vague wave, looking around… then jogging over to Muffy's side. Zero was already there, saying something softly to the valiant aerial warrior. He looked up, spotting the expression on Harpuia's face at the damage she had taken… and smiled.

"She's going to make it," he said reassuringly, and Harpuia stared at him, then nodded. He knelt down beside Muffy, taking her hand as she managed a wan smile.

"Harpuia?" Her voice was soft and fragile. "I want… a cucumber salad." Zero's soft laugh surprised Harpuia more than the request. He had never heard Zero laugh before. Harpuia shook his head with a small smile.

"I'm sure that can be arranged, Muffy." He slid his arms under her. "Let's get you back to HQ for repairs."


	9. Fin for now

"The Council is now in session," The Governor announced formally, and the quiet chatting died down as all the Councilors directed their attention to the head of the table. It was a very fine table, of satiny brown wood. A large recording device had pride of place in the center, recording their words for later transcription into the official minutes. Little plates of donuts were strategically placed so everyone could reach at least one plate, along with a bowl of carrots for Councilor Gil, who was diabetic. A young human intern filled all their cups with coffee, then quietly left the room with his serving cart. No one else was supposed to be present when the Council was in session, although that rule could occasionally be bent.

There were thirteen Councilors, in total, counting the Governor. Their duties covered all kinds of things… Civil Works, Criminal Law, Transportation, Finance… Harpuia rubbed his eyes. He felt very tired. He had spent all night helping get the civilians safely back in town, and gathering up the dead of his command. Many of the bodies had not been found, and he knew they never would be. As an amoeba, the gel had immobilized Reploids with its slimy strength, then quickly dissolved them. The bodies they had managed to recover had been in truly disgusting condition.

Harpuia wished he could have skipped this Council meeting entirely, and gotten some sleep. But he was hardly the only one in that boat. Drosden, Smythe, Lamont and Eggleston all looked as exhausted as he felt. The other Council members were fresher, but their duties hadn't put them into the emergency process. They had just been evacuated with the rest of the civilians.

"We'll begin the meeting with status reports. General Harpuia, if you could begin?" Harpuia nodded, and began to speak.

"The situation with the gel has stabilized. The counteragent Ciel-" A few winces around the table, at her name. "-and our own science team discovered is proving extremely effective. There are still infected Reploids wandering around, but as long as we provide the solution to all cities, towns and villages and stay vigilant, it should no longer be a problem. Our casualties, however, were substantial." Harpuia swallowed. He had already gone through the figures with Fefnir and Leviathan, and no one was happy. "We experienced an almost twenty percent casualty rate with our ground forces, and around five percent in the Rekku. We're in need of recruits." There was a faint stir around the table, and more than a few people looked sour.

"Not from my forces," Lamont, also known as Brigadier General Lamont, overall commander of the human armed forces and Councilor of Military Affairs, said firmly. "I'm sorry, Harpuia, but you yanked out all the Reploids I could spare last time. Anymore and our mech bat divs will be crippled." Harpuia nodded, resigned. He understood the realities of the human military. Almost entirely human, they still employed a few mechanical divisions. Those were mostly humans in heavy weapons, like tanks and ride armor, but there were also AI drones and Reploid skirmishers in those units. The skirmishers were meant to divert the enemy from the slow moving but powerful tanks. It was a job that required intelligence and speed, and many had flying capabilities… so they were ideal for recruitment into the Rekku. But he had indeed already drained the talent pool heavily, and it was hard on the human forces, bearing the expense of replacing them.

"I might be able to shake you out a few more SWAT teams that are willing to go over," Councilor Gil spoke up. A very thin woman with a dark, East Indian complexion, she took a great deal of pride in her heritage and was wearing a heavily embroidered dark blue sari and a great deal of gold jewelry. But perhaps it wasn't pride, so much as the fact that she was Minister of Criminal Law. In her time as a judge, she had gotten her fill of wearing the tradition gowns, and used her freedom as a Minister to wear whatever she pleased. "But I don't think I could get more than fifty, and they won't be among the best… that's another talent pool that's been drained. How many are you needing, about?"

"To get back up to strength? A bit over four hundred." Harpuia said grimly. He, Fefnir and Leviathan each had a thousand warriors. They were an elite strike force, however, and had an impact completely out of proportion with their size.

"Then the recruits will have to be built from scratch. This will have to go into emergency expenses." Eggleston said thoughtfully, eliciting several dismayed looks.

"But we're going to need that budget to rebuild the city!" Drosden protested, and Smythe nodded. "That gel and our own weapons caused extensive damage."

"Perhaps a funding drive?" Councilor Li, Minister of Transport, suggested with a sly smile. Harpuia had a sinking feeling as the man glanced over at him. "With Harpuia's current fame, I think a few appearances from him, asking for help to rebuild, would be well received." Harpuia colored at that, especially at the sounds of agreement around the table.

When he had used Muffy to steal the cameras from Weil, he'd only meant to keep the lunatic from scoring a public relations coup. He hadn't meant to score one himself, but… he'd had a chance to watch the tape, and it was quite embarrassing. He had looked like… like a battered hero, a Joan of Arc standing with bloody sword and scorched armor, facing an enemy down with passion and rage. Weil had gotten the camera back before he had finished, but it had done him no good… the contrast between his spotless robes and Harpuia's damaged armor had been in Harpuia's favor. And then, when Weil had been ready to kill him, the cool face he had turned onto the maniac had revealed no doubts, nothing but calm resolve. Watching it, Harpuia had been amazed… it had seemed like something from a holovid, not something that had actually happened to him. Muffy's part had made her something of a celebrity as well, and while Zero's part had been the least flashy, public opinion was definitely with him too.

The end effect of all the publicity was hard for Harpuia to handle. Getting constantly asked for autographs was wearing, and worse yet was all the fan mail. Especially because it seemed to all be coming from teenage girls and middle-aged women. Fefnir was constantly making bad jokes about his harem.

Councilor Li knew how embarrassed he was by it, too. Harpuia suppressed a glower as Drosden smoothly seconded the motion. There was no particular expression on her face, but the very speed with which she'd seized on the idea was a backhanded insult to him, particularly since she and Li normally couldn't stand each other. And Eggleston scored the coup de gras by passing it. Harpuia stared at the Governor, a bit stunned. _Et tu, Brutus?_ Eggleston smiled at him sympathetically, but with no bending.

"Sorry Harpuia, but it will go over very well right now and it's the only way to get funding for both the city and the replacements you'll need." He said, and Harpuia gritted his teeth on the pithy reply he wanted to give. Then he sighed. If Eggleston thought it was a good idea, he was definitely doomed. No one was going to stand behind him.

"Getting past that, how many Reploids can we make how fast?" Councilor Gil said, keeping her mind on the practicalities. Councilor Smythe frowned, looking through her notes. It wasn't the first time she'd been asked this question, but the details of the answer changed constantly.

"Well, that depends. The Tecknologic facility at Queenston can still make only forty class A military Reploids a month, and they'll cost top dollar but they'll be good." Harpuia nodded slightly. The facility they came from didn't dictate how good a Reploid would be, ultimately, but it did have a lot to do with their initial survival. "We can get another thirty from the Reploid Solutions facility at York, but the quality will be a little questionable… more B than A. Then there's the pure civilian facilities… we can feel them out. They probably can't make the weapons and armor, but we might be able to patch something together from other sources. The key is if they can get the skill sets right. Only Tecknologic and Reploid Solutions are reliable in that area." Harpuia winced. Training could compensate for a faulty skillset, but he wasn't at all sure he would have time for in depth training. "There's also enough popular support to try for direct recruitment… it might be worthwhile, although I doubt you'll be able to get more than a few dozen qualified applicants that way." Several of the Councilor's exchanged glances, dubious at that prospect, and Harpuia shared the feeling. His units were elite. Recruiting directly from the public was done quite rarely… usually it happened when a prospective recruit gathered his courage and came directly to the HQ, asking for a place. Usually, Harpuia unleashed Fefnir on them. If the prospective recruit didn't run off crying and demonstrated some proficiency, they were accepted for training. Very few rose too far, but there were exceptions… Padrick had entered his forces that way. But even more than Reploids with faulty skillsets, those recruits needed training. Padrick's records showed some very intense training time with Phantom himself.

"We can try it," Harpuia said with a half-shrug. "But I refuse to accept any recruits below minimal requirements."

"We wouldn't expect you to, General," Eggleston said easily, setting his hands on the table. "Now… there's something else we need to address. The Translation project." There was a sudden stir around the table and a few quick glances were shot at Harpuia. Speculative or, in the case of Councilor Smythe, rather guilty. They were all aware that he knew about the project, but none of them was sure of how he would react. Harpuia managed the moment with calm dignity, watching Eggleston. "It's time to release the information about it to the public." There was a scurry of sound around the table, this one dismayed. "There can be no better time."

"How about never?" Someone suggested, sotto voice but loud enough that Harpuia heard. Eggleston also seemed to hear the mutter, and began explaining.

"It's bound to come out at some point, and since Harpuia needs more skilled recruits, now is a better time than any." There was suddenly some interest in the faces around the table, and General Lamont abruptly looked thoughtful. Harpuia barely held back a scowl… he was supposed to endanger more humans? But he could see how translating human soldiers would meet his needs. "Also, it will help us meet the Rebellion's demands." There was another stir, and Gil spoke up sharply.

"Demands? What demands are you talking about, Governor?" She leaned forward, and Harpuia reflected that she had probably been a terror as a judge. She looked ready to pounce on the slightest misstatement.

"Let me read them to you," Eggleston said smoothly, pulling out a paper. Harpuia swallowed as the Governor began to speak. _A Reploid bill of rights?_

Before the recitation was half over, the expressions in the room were definitely strained. Harpuia was feeling a bit strained himself. He had no idea what the ramifications of Ciel's demands would be to his society. Equal pay for equal work? How would they even begin enforcing such a thing? And it was only one of the more troublesome demands. Eggleston set down the paper, and looked them all over seriously.

"While I doubt we can address all these concerns, it's time we started, and revealing the Translation project would help."

"It would indeed," Drosden affirmed. "Although it will also cause immense ethical questions about war crimes." Harpuia flinched, then flushed with anger as he caught the cold glint in her eye and the faint malice in her expression. General Lamont was just as angry, although his dark skin showed no red. He opened his mouth to speak angry words… but Eggleston cut him short, his voice like a cold wind.

"If that is a reference to the actions committed under Master X, Councilor Drosden, I will remind you that half the people sitting at this table also served under him. Including you." The woman flushed, looking ready to protest, but the Governor continued. "We all should have done something, but we did not. We believed in X, despite our knowledge of the Translation project, knowledge General Harpuia did not have. I think you should keep that in mind." There was a leaden silence, then Councilor Gil cleared her throat.

"This bill will require amending the constitution. Are we up for that?" That took the debate into safer waters, and Harpuia let the rest of it wash over him. The arcane terms and concepts of bill drafting were a bit beyond him, although he had a fairly good grasp on social issues. He caught General Lamont's eye, and make a quick hand gesture, an old code for 'I'd like to speak to you later.' The Brigadier General gave him a quizzical look, but nodded acknowledgement.

If Harpuia was going to be using Translated soldiers in the future, he wanted to have a say in which ones would be selected.

Finally, the Council wound down a bit on the bill of Reploid rights question. It was decided that they couldn't possible make any decision in haste, and would have to hammer out the specifics of the bill over a long period of time. And by the time it was over, Councilor Smythe was dozing in her seat, and General Lamont looked like he wished he could join her. Smythe's indifference to anything outside her bailiwick of Civil Works was well known, which was how she managed to get away with that kind of behavior. Harpuia almost wished he had cultivated a similar indifference as he thought longingly about his recharger.

Once the debate about the bill of rights was over, though, there were the usual reports to get through. This was an emergency session, so not everyone was prepared, and Harpuia bit back a groan as he watched Councilor Weber nervously shuffle his papers. He was the Minister of Finance and needed to report on the emergency funds. His lack of comment earlier and nervousness now did not bode well.

And the man had an unfortunate tendency to drone on when he was nervous. Harpuia felt like everyone had to be seeing his eyes glazing over… but he wasn't too worried because he certainly had company. Governor Eggleston was patient as a sphinx, but Gil was tapping her fingers impatiently. When Weber finally stopped to take a long breath, she broke in.

"Well, thank you Finance Minister Weber, for that edifying recital." Her tone was as sweet as honeyed candy. "Seldom has so little been said for so long. We'll all take the example to our hearts." There were chuckles all around the table, and Weber turned brick red as he realized she had just called him a pompous windbag. "If I may sum it up, we have just enough in the emergency fund for civil repairs." Weber opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and nodded. "Wonderful. So the funding drive is absolutely necessary. That or a levy." Everyone grimaced at that. No one in the country liked levies. Actually, everyone loathed them.

"If I must, I must." Harpuia said with an almost inaudible sigh. There was no point in delaying the inevitable.

The council meeting finally ended when Eggleston called for an end to the meeting, and was quickly seconded by Gil. The meeting broke up with several people, Harpuia among them, intending to take a catnap. He could go longer with no sleep if he had to, but he didn't like it. He spoke briefly to Lamont, who promised to send him dossiers of any Translation prospects, then went back to his own HQ for an appointment with his recharger.

First, though, he had a bit of work to do. Passing through the halls of HQ, he headed towards his office. He walked into the room, briefly frowning as he saw that someone had put a new picture on the wall… a seaside scene in very bright colors. Harpuia shrugged, sitting down at his desk and looked at his computer… then blinked at the purple sticky note someone had tacked to the screen.

"Hmm?" Harpuia plucked the note free and read it with a small smile. The wide, extravagant handwriting was as familiar as his own.

_Tech heads are done upgrading Padrick to Phantom's abilities. So when are you gonna get to training him, or do you want me to do it? Don't make Levi, she'll kill him. I think its love._

_-Fefnir_

"Love," Harpuia said musingly, then shook his head. He couldn't think of anything more unlikely, offhand. Although you could never quite tell how things like that would turn out. "Um." He placed the note on the desk, and accessed some old files. Files from when Phantom was alive, and leading his unit, the Zan'ei.

He rarely looked at these particular files. They always made him feel… pained, nostalgic. The comments in them were curt and to the point, but his mind couched them in Phantom's voice. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine his friend speaking to him, telling him these things…

Harpuia sighed, and shook away that morbid thought, accessing Padrick's personnel file. He raised an eyebrow as he saw numerous comments… and some in red. That wasn't expected. He frowned as he perused them, hearing Phantom's voice in his mind.

_Unshakeable loyalty to Neo Arcadia. Valuable ability to blend in. Ideal for special training. _That comment was the usual black. Next was one in red… _Abnormal behavior. Investigating farther._ Harpuia skipped down the line of comments, which had been added over the course of months as a memory aid for Phantom. At the end, Phantom had included a summary… he always did, and the summaries hurt Harpuia's heart, because he knew Phantom had been writing specifically to him. Phantom had known who would be going through his files, in the event of his death. _Padrick is a highly useful soldier and recommended for high position. His loyalty to Neo Arcadia is unshakeable. However, he possesses an aberrant moral code and sees nothing wrong with scheming and backstabbing his way to the top. He will always seek to be the highest rank in his class, sabotaging others in ways that will not damage Neo Arcadia but may undermine discipline. Always keep him firmly under your watch, and let him know you are watching. He has a deep need for an ultimate superior and craves he respect and approval of that superior._ Harpuia sat back as he thought about that, and realized that Leviathan had been right. Her comments on Padricks' behavior were almost identical to Phantom's. Harpuia considered that, then reached for his computer, calling up a communications link. The face of the HQ operator, Annalise, filled the screen. "Anna, have Padrick report to my office."

_Right away, Lord Harpuia,_ she said, her voice faintly tinny from his speakers. Harpuia waited patiently, and perhaps five minutes later, there was a knock.

"Come in," Harpuia said, and regarded Padrick as he stepped inside. The small, dun colored Reploid was a bit different now. The upgrades couldn't help but make him look a bit more impressive… his armor was stronger now, but lighter and more compact, making him look sleek and deadly. But Padrick had obviously stopped the techs from ornamenting it in any way, which must have been an uphill battle. Harpuia's respect for his professionalism went up a notch. Being constantly underestimated was useful, but probably very tiring on a personal level.

"Reporting for duty, sir!" Padrick gave him a crisp salute, and Harpuia smiled thinly.

"Very good, Guardian Padrick." Padrick's expression didn't change, but his cheeks pinked slightly. This was the first time his new title had been made official. "At ease, and sit down. We have some things to discuss." Padrick nodded and sat down in a graceful, economical motion. Harpuia blinked, then shook his head slightly. For a moment, he had been reminded of Phantom. It was probably just from reading the files. Speaking of which… "You might be interested in this… Phantom kept files on all of his soldiers," Harpuia said with a smile. "And he had quite a bit to say about you." Harpuia read through the summary, keeping an eye on Padrick's reactions.

Padrick seemed to stay impassive, but there was a hint of strain around his eyes… and Harpuia detected a scent of guilt. He had been planning something. Harpuia suppressed a quick flash of anger, and smiled innocently at the brand new Guardian. That only increased his uneasiness. Harpuia was at his most dangerous when he was feigning innocence. "I just want you to know, Padrick , that I intend to take Phantom's advice. I'm going to be watching you. And if any bizarre mischances start to befall Levi and Fefnir, well… Guardians can be retired." Harpuia's smile became a thing of ice, and Padrick actually bit his lower lip. Harpuia actually wouldn't kill Padrick… but he would strip him of all rank, all enhancements, and throw him out of HQ. Which, for Padrick, was a fate worse than death.

"Yes, sir. I understand." Padrick said without inflection, but in his own head, a thousand plans were dying quiet deaths. But he managed to cheer himself a moment later. He was still a Guardian, and that was higher than he had ever imagined he would climb before Phantom had died. If he had to be the least, the youngest among three, he could deal with it. Trying to gain the distinction of being first among equals wasn't worth risking everything. And the cold look in Harpuia's eyes convinced him that Harpuia would, indeed, be watching… just as Phantom had watched.

"Good," Harpuia said softly, watching Padrick. Watching. "You're dismissed."

* * *

Elsewhere… 

The room was quite beautiful. It had been furnished in the best of taste, and sparing no expense… or at least, no illegality. The carpet was a beautiful, ancient oriental rug, priceless and irreplaceable. The furniture was antique rosewood, imported from India at ruinous expense some time in the far off past. The decorations in the room were few, but also lovely antiques. A Ming dynasty vase sat on a plinth, specifically designed to set off the white and blue patterned porcelain yet match the rosewood furniture.

In the midst of that elegant good taste, Weil's bulky body seemed out of place. Although no one could have taken amiss to the practiced, elegant way he was sipping a very fine glass of wine as he watched one of the few modern accoutrements in the room… a flat screen TV set in one wall.

The scene it was showing quietly enraged him, although there was no sign of that on his face besides a narrowing of the eyes… eyes that were cold and hard as stones.

"…banished you once for your crimes against humanity, and we banish you again!" Weil watched the recording of his most recent defeat, until the screen went black. Then he quietly finished his wine… and crushed the glass in his fist. Shards of glass tinkled sadly onto the carpet, as he opened his hand.

"Someday, Harpuia. You and your Neo Arcadian piglets… someday." Until his defeat, and the way Harpuia had _dared_ speak to him, he'd never really thought of the green Guardian as anything but X's little lapdog. But now… "Someday."

_Fin_

For now


End file.
